tOO*/. AMERICAN 





Thinking 

IMPARTIAL readers will agree 
the ONLY key that will open the 
door to "PEACE ON EARTH 
and GOOD WILL TOWARDS ALL 
MEN" is disclosed herein. 

4 For 6000 years man has endea- 
vored to find a panacea for the social 
ills of the world— readers will 

admit the solution given herein is so reasonable and yet so simple that 

all who read must admit. 

This Little Book 

will create more favorable and unfavorable criticism 
than anything written in the past century. 

4 The results will be a greater stride towards a higher plane ON 
EARTH in the next 25 years than has been accomplished thru any 
forward movement in the past 500 years. 

To be in touch with modern thinkers 
you should read this message. 




■ 



COPYWRITED 1920 

By The D. O. S. T. Co. 



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©CU604821. 



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PREFACE 



100 PER CENT AMERICANISM AND 
ALWAYS OPTIMISTIC 

Goethe has said — 

"The true poet is only a mask father 
confessor, whose special function is to 
exhibit what is dangerous in sentiment 
and pernicious in action by giving a vivid 
picture of their consequences. " 

We have no quarrel with the ethics of 
the Ten Commandments or with the 
teachings prescribed in the Sermon on 
the Mount. Believing the former to be 
the essence of right rules of living se- 
lected by philosophers preceding and 
during the time they were adopted by 
the Jewish law givers as the most con- 
cise and reasonable rules of action for 
the occasion; and the latter, especially 
that part commencing with the 21st 

1 



verse and on thru the chapter, very 
good worth-while advice, profitable to 
each and all who may follow it. Wheth- 
er they were given under the circum- 
stances history records, or not, is beside 
the question. 

We do believe, however, and lay this 
charge against our Theologian Friends: 
That — by dividing their forces into 
more than two hundred denominations, 
and formulating creeds so unreasonable 
that many fair, honest, intelligent men 
cannot ^rooc^KS io them, and are there- 
by eliminated from co-operating in up- 
lift movements with them, that they 
have failed to make good with their 
very elaborate plan along religious 
lines, for, after using millions and mil- 
lions in money and workers, to-day they 
admit — as is shown herein by their own 
testimony — that things considered 
from a church growth viewpoint are not 
what thev should be. That new converts 



are much less now in comparison with 
what they were twenty and fifty years 
ago, when less than half the money and 
workers were used. This being true, is 
it not high time we stop and take stock, 
as it were, endeavoring to learn the 
cause for the social unrest the world 
over, find out, if possible, whether it's a 
case of commission or omission on our 
part, figure out a new rule of action if 
necessary that may change conditions 
for the better? A physician, on learn- 
ing his patient is not doing well under 
the treatment prescribed, calls in other 
experts in his line for a consultation, 
when a new treatment is promulgated 
in hopes that the change may cure. Our 
patient is a very sick one and covers the 
world; should we not follow the wise 
tactics of the physician? 

As proof of how sick, politically and 
socially, we really are, I would call the 
reader's attention to the many articles 

3 



on this line filling the editorial space of 
newspapers and magazines everywhere, 
Leslie's of October 9th, 1920, has a very 
strong editorial on this line and in it 
the editor expresses the idea that it is 
high time we sat up and took notice 
with the thought in mind of concentrat- 
ing our efforts in learning the causes 
and endeavoring to find a remedy there- 
for. Collier's, The Outlook, The Satur- 
day Evening Post and many, many oth- 
er strong " public opinion moulders" 
both here and abroad, are lending their 
best efforts in the endeavor to seek out 
if possible a remedy for prevailing un- 
healthy political and social conditions. 

If we will stop to consider, take no- 
tice of conditions as they are, we will 
quickly discover that a change along so- 
ciological lines cannot be encouraged 
and adopted too soon if we would be 
saved from deteriorating to the primi- 
tive condition of the cave man. 

4 



In our efforts along this line we have 
first, endeavored to prove, out of the 
mouths of the leaders, that the plan of 
redemption for mankind, as followed 
for the past two and three thousand 
years, has seemed to shoot wide of the 
mark desired; and second, to offer for 
the consideration of all, a plan for a 
new rule of action that we believe un- 
biased, intelligent, fair minds will agree 
is a most reasonable remedy for the so- 
cial as well as spiritual ills of mankind. 

We are sure this work will receive 
more favorable and unfavorable com- 
ment than anything written in the past 
century, however, we are also confident 
that the plan offered will thrive on criti- 
cism and in the near future be backed 
by a great majority of the fair minded 
thinkers of this age. This will mean the 
adoption of the plan, then its good re- 
sults will be so apparent that a nation- 

5 



wide movement will follow. We expect 
this much and could ask no more. 

In closing will cite a statement re- 
cently made by a prominent preacher, 
and published in a leading newspaper 
of the Northwest. This is given merely 
as added proof that all new departures 
in lines of thought or discoveries re- 
ceive considerable adverse criticism 
which only seems to encourage investi- 
gation and more thought on the matter, 
resulting, as a rule, in its adoption pro- 
viding, of course, the plan or scheme or 
device proves on investigation to be 
practical. His statement was as fol- 
lows: 

"What do you do with the ' radicals' 
in your town, your church, your labor 
union? Kill them off? Put them in 
prison? Excommunicate them? Any- 
body can do that. 

"It doesn't require any amount of 

6 



brain power to shut a* man off just be- 
cause you and your side are in the ma- 
jority. 

" It's a lot better to understand a man 
than to silence him. And perhaps — if 
you understand him — you'd find that he 
was right even though he was different. 
"Every man who ever became a leader 
was regarded as a ' radical.' Every 
great thinker — every scientist, every 
philosopher, every inventor, was at one 
time scored as a ' radical' because he 
wasn't thinking in a rut. 

"He had the courage to be different. 

"It's quite possible to go to extremes 
— although the greatest danger in most 
men's lives is that they will die of dry 
rot — in fact, they are already dead, but, 
unfortunately, they don't know it. 

"You needn't worry much about the 
6 radical.' For if he is right, you can't 
stop him — his convictions will finally be 

7 



accepted by everybody, anyway. And 
in whatever respect lie may be wrong, 
we'll all find it out — and so will he. 

"And so, you'd better be slow about 
bucking the Galileos — who are sure 
that the world revolves on its axis ; the 
Columbuses who insist that the world 
is round; the Fultons who see the possi- 
bilities in the steamboat; the Gothen- 
burgs who have dreamed out the print- 
ing press. 

" These are the ' radicals' in practical 
life who sow, even thru an agony of 
tears, while 'wise men' mocked and 
smiled in derision." 



8 



CONTENTS. 

The Philosopher and his theorie, bas- 
ed on the deductions of the leading 
Thinkers of history along sociological 
lines. 



The difference between Scientists 
and Theologians as to the manner in 
which the "next life," should there be 
one, is attained. 



The many ways in which the Com- 
munity Education plan as suggested 
herein would spell uplift the world over. 



Why Religions? Giving the cause 
for same and the evolution of thought 
on this line since primitive man. 



Spiritualism, and a Young Man's 
Confusion. 



Why a Board of Arbitration should 
be established in each County of U. S. 
where small civil cases might be settled, 
at a great saving both to the counties 
and litigants. 



Why a National Matrimony Bureau 
should be established, and the many 
benefits that would result. 



And many other thoughts concerning 
how to live THIS LIFE that good 
health, peace and happiness may pre- 
vail HERE and NOW, with a most rea- 
sonable assurance that should there be 
another life we will enter it on a plane 
our efforts to perfect this life shall war- 
rant. 



These thoughts will lead the reader 
in a line of Straight Thinking such as, 
perhaps, he has never experienced. 

10 



Discovering a Philosopher 

While hunting in the Adirondacks 
late in the fall of 1920, I ran across a 
path leading to a grove of large elms. 
In this grove I found a bungalow, and 
soon learned it was the retreat of a wise 
old philosopher. Had it not been for 
the fact that the smell of dinner cook- 
ing in the near vicinity attracted my 
attention, I would have passed with- 
out noticing it, so well had it been con- 
cealed with shrubbery and trees. As 
I stopped to locate the direction from 
whence came the familiar smell, a man 
appeared not twenty yards to my right, 
advanced and offered his hand in wel- 
come, and, after passing the compli- 
ments of the day, bade me tarry with 
him for a bit — an offer I was glad to ac- 
cept, for I was both tired and hungry, 

11 



and looking for a sheltered spot to build 
a fire and pass the night when I discov- 
ered the path leading to his camp, as he 
called it. Here I found rest and food 
already prepared. 

My host was a fine specimen of the 
race, whom I took to be perhaps sixty- 
five ( learned later he was eighty-two), 
but so well preserved that he looked 
much younger. His broad deep chest 
and large well shaped head showed 
physical and mental engines capable of 
performing any work requiring a vig- 
orous constitution and a strong mind. 
His face was a remarkable one, in that 
it showed no trace of care or worry — 
this characteristic, they say, is true of 
men who are wise enough to rise above 
the stress and cares, and the small 
things of this strenuous world, and 
view the struggles of life as from a dis- 
tance, in this way escaping the mental 

12 



and physical wounds of the social bat- 
tles for life, liberty, and happiness. 
The philosopher whose thoughts and 
experiences have been along the lines of 
sociology know enough about the his- 
tory of the gradual and slow advance 
and uplift of the human race to 
know T that worry adds nothing but hin- 
ders much. Hence that calm, content- 
ed, well-satisfied face of the truly great 
philosopher, wherever and w r henever he 
is found, for he knows, in the words of 
Emerson — 

"Every line of history inspires a con- 
fidence that we shall not go far wrong; 
that things mend. That is the moral of 
all we learn, that it warrants Hope, the 
prolific mother of reforms. Our part is 
plainly not to throw ourselves across 
the track, to block improvement and sit 
till we are stone, but to watch the up- 
rise of successive mornings and to con- 
spire with the new works of new days." 

13 



I found my host interesting in many 
ways, for lie seemed filled to overflow 
w r ith good cheer, love of all nature 
— whether bird, flower or beast — a pro- 
found student of mankind, and conse- 
quently, full of hope and faith in the 
race, with charity and sympathy abun- 
dant. His kindness seemed to reach 
out and consider the welfare of every 
living thing. I have seen him pull 
weeds that seemed to choke or shade 
some wild flower that it might grow 
and blossom as nature intended it 
should. With birds, squirrels, and rab- 
bits, he would not think of hurting or 
molesting one, and would shoot only 
such as would provide meat for the 
man, and in such cases, would always 
make sure that whatever was shot was 
put out of its misery as quick as possi- 
ble. In one of our talks — when taking 
our constitutionals — he said when 
younger he enjoyed the hunt, and 

14 



would get pleasure in killing even more 
than he intended to eat, but now there 
was only a discontented thought, when 
considered from the point of sport, and 
he was much inclined to think that in 
the near future, man would question 
whether it was morally right to kill 
any living creature under any circum- 
stances other than that of absolute 
necessity to save himself from starva- 
tion. "For my part," he said, "I am 
ready now to subscribe to any law that 
may be necessary to protect bird or 
beast from being killed for any other 
purpose." 

On entering the bungalow, I found it 
neatly arranged, and divided into five 
rooms — a good sized living room with a 
large fire place, in which a cheerful fire 
was burning, hanging above it two ket- 
tles — one containing water and the 
other as good a boiled dinner as I ever 
remember partaking. The smell and 

15 



the taste remain with me — tho, likely, 
the long walk I had helped some to 
make it seem so delicious, but I am 
sure, the cooking added most. After 
washing up, we sat down to eat, and got 
quite well acquainted before the meal 
was finished. 

On learning that my profession was 
in the literary line, my friend seemed 
much pleased, for, he said that he had 
followed that line of work himself for 
nearly seventy years, and at this time 
was writing a book, which, he hoped, 
would prove the most profitable, in the 
way of uplift for humanity, of anything 
he had yet written. This book, I learn- 
ed later, was on sociology. It would 
contain a treatise on what he called "a 
new line of action for encouraging the 
uplift spirit in mankind.' ' 

Dinner over, and dishes washed, we 
retired to his studio or den, this— like 
the living room — had a rug on the floor, 

16 



pictures on the walls, and was as clean 
and cosy as it could have been had there 
been servants to look after it. On the 
large library table was a good sized 
"Sun Burner Gas Lamp," considerable 
manuscript, books with marking slips 
sticking out at the ends, pens, ink and 
blotters. There were many shelves of 
books on the walls, and a large grand- 
father's clock ticked away the time as 
stately and correctly as it no doubt had 
in former years in the more sumptuous 
quarters in this man's manor on the 
east end of Commonwealth Avenue, 
Boston. On looking over the books at 
odd times while there, I learned that 
those shelves contained perhaps the 
largest private collection in this coun- 
try of works on sociology and every 
thing that would have a bearing on 
this line of thought; many were well 
thumbed and all contained bookmarks. 
It would not have required a great 

17 



knowledge of human nature for one to 
figure the trend of the owner's mind 
after looking over these books. The 
making over of new thoughts out of 
this collection of old ideas, reminded 
me of the saying along this line of 
another great American philosopher — 

"Each age, it is found, must write 
its own books, or rather, each genera- 
tion, for the next succeeding. The 
books of an older period will not fit in." 

His Splendid Dog, Companion, Pet 
and Hunter. 

Besides the two rooms mentioned, 
there was a small kitchen off the living- 
room, and two bedrooms, all in the best 
of shape, with dishes, pans and bedding 
as clean as hands could make them. 
The only pet around the place was a 
fine specimen of a Collie, that appeared 
knowing enough to be a good compan- 
ion for anyone camping out. His hair 

18 



was as clean as water and soap could 
make it, I gave his master credit for 
this, of course, for lie seemed to make 
cleanliness a part of his religion. The 
intelligence of this dog was shown in 
many ways, but to me the most inter- 
esting was in his way of hunting. 
Early every morning we three would 
go out "for a constitutional" as my 
friend called them, taking the guns 
along in case we flushed a rabbit or 
partridge, and tramp the woods, ra- 
vines, and hills for about two hours. 
This dog would seem to see every squir- 
rel, bird, or rabbit in our path whether 
on rail, limb, or under the brush, and 
the way he would endeavor to make us 
see what he did was very amusing. 
After we showed him by our actions 
that we saw but did not wish to shoot, 
he would run on as if to find something 
we would shoot. If we did, he would 
act as pleased as a young sportsman on 

19 



getting his first big game. I am well 
aware that my nimrod friends will 
laugh at the idea of a shepherd dog be- 
ing a hunter, but I would match this 
Scotch beauty, with his almost human 
expression and intelligence, in his way 
of hunting, with any pointer or English 
setter that I ever saw hunt. From what 
I saw of him while there, there is little 
a dog can learn that cannot be taught 
this species. Of course, his sense of 
smell is not as acute as that of some of 
his cousins, but his greater intelligence 
will outweigh any deficiency he might 
have otherwise, when comparing the 
knowledge dogs are supposed to ac- 
quire, or can be taught. 

Good Habits. 

On those "constitutionals" I enjoy- 
ed my pipe, for, as I discovered no 
signs of tobacco in or about the camp, I 
did not care to impose on my good 

20 



friend by smoking around the place. I 
think my host did not use this — to the 
hunter — all important commodity, for 
he had drilled himself in those habits 
only of eating, drinking, exercising, 
and amusements as would spell uplift, 
and it seemed nothing entered his lips 
or his mind, if he could help it, that 
would not encourage good health and a 
strong contented mind. Tobacco, no 
doubt, seemed to him quite unnecessary 
as well as absolutely harmful. I won- 
dered not at his keen eye sight, his 
strong physique, and his great wit, after 
learning his habits. Do not think from 
anything said here that he was in the 
least a recluse, a miser, or one who was 
so warped in his judgment that he en- 
joyed not the wholesome amusements 
of the world. On the contrary, he 
seemed to know more about the stars, 
in every line of their profession, from 
the ball diamond to the movies, than I. 

21 



In the field of athletics, he knew the 
record holders for the past thirty 
years — painters, sculptors, musicians, 
and poets had all received some atten- 
tion, and he seemed to have retained a 
little good from each and every class. 
In fact, he was very broad minded, al- 
lowing himself to examine every line of 
thought, every line of amusement, 
every line of action, and like the honey 
bee that makes its stop long or short on 
each and every flower according to its 
honey value, so he would pause on this 
or that thought for more intensive ex- 
amination, testing whether it added 
much or little to that general knowl- 
edge so necessary to the really great 
thinker. 

Invitation Extended. 

Getting back to my introduction to 
the library — After talking over the 
important affairs of the times, and on 

22 



learning that my time was not too 
pressing, he urged me to make my visit 
of some days, as time would permit. 
An offer I was quite pleased to accept 
for I realized now that I had as my host 
a man whose understanding was so 
broad and so deep that I seemingly had 
not as yet even penetrated the outer 
shell of his capacious thought tank. 
Having spent a good share of my work 
days as a professional interviewer on 
the staff of one of the large magazines 
in this country, stationed a good part of 
that time in Washington, where I inter- 
viewed the great statesmen of this and 
foreign countries, you can get some idea 
of the pleasure and profit I must have 
realized in a visit that did last three 
short weeks, when I should have been 
about my business the day after I took 
the path that led to this pleasant re- 
treat. 

He had selected this spot in his pre- 
serve, which comprised more than two 

23 



hundred acres, on account of its roman- 
tic and beautiful yet wild appearance. 
Here lie had men build for him an in- 
teresting camp where he could seek its 
seclusion away from the noise and strife 
of a mercenary world, away from the 
strenuous city life with its shrieking 
whistles, noisy bells and auto horns. 
Here he would come to commune with 
nature, to drink long and deep from 
the pure spring water that ever trickled 
down the ravine near by— to hear the 
sweet song of the birds morning and 
night, and inhale the fragrance of the 
ferns and wild flowers. Under such 
environment, what splendid ideas 
should sprout and blossom. No wonder 
his thoughts and reasoning seemed to 
encompass and overlap the problems 
that have vexed the smaller man for 
thousands of years. Sometimes he 
would remain here thru the winter 
months and late in the spring his 

24 



daughter and her two children visited 
him occasionally. He said that at such 
times, the books were laid aside, and 
everything was play in which all hands 
joined, and the dog seemed to get just 
a little more fun out of it than the rest, 
but when they departed he was glad to 
return to his work again. 

"His Master Work." 

The book he was now working on 
was not quite completed, but he said 
that I could read what he had written 
if I desired and pass the thought along 
but not being able to read shorthand — 
written in that way, likely to save time 
— I could not take advantage of his 
offer, much as I should have liked, but 
had to satisfy myself in getting as 
large a part of it as I could, given by 
him in our talks from time to time. 
This was not always the easiest thing 
in the world to do, for he was better 

25 



at getting the other man's idea than in 
giving his own, and altho I had prided 
myself on being able to find the depth, 
breadth and height of the knowledge 
on any certain subject of those I inter- 
viewed in what I thought the least time 
possible, mv wise friend, I soon found 
out, had the peculiar faculty of sink- 
ing his inquisitive probiscus deep in 
one 's mental sponge and sucking it dry 
of everything of interest on the subject 
in less time than it would take me to 
get fairly started on any one line I was 
endeavoring to exploit. Is it any won- 
der that we enjoyed the company of 
each other every minute of the three 
weeks, when you consider that I had 
found the most interesting character I 
had ever met, and was doing my best 
to get material for future use from a 
seemingly unlimited fountain of knowl- 
edge, and he just as pleased on finding 
in my thoughts meat for his stew? 

26 



I discovered, after several attempts, 
that to get best results in the way of 
learning what his book would contain, 
or what were his deductions as he often 
called them, was to carefully refrain 
from letting any other subject be pro- 
jected when discusing his work. In 
this way I finally succeeded in getting 
probably the salient parts of the book 
and will give them as memory will 
permit, with his consent. 

By way of introduction, I will offer 
the thoughts of another that seem to 
apply here quite appropriately. 

"We should be able to get light on 
the real worth of a man's theories, 
ideas, or beliefs by looking at the re- 
sults in good or bad they would cause if 
applied/ ' 

This, I believe, a most fair test of 
one's work, in this or any other line, 
and I ask the reader to think a moment 

27 



after reading the thoughts herein pre- 
sented, and if he believes the results 
must be for the good of mankind, then 
he should do the best that is in his pow- 
er to bring about those conditions in the 
quickest possible time. He can help 
much by passing this little book along 
or the thoughts therein. The author, 
no doubt, spent much time and thought 
on it with the one idea in mind — to 
help in the uplift of humanity. Surely, 
you should do what little you can as 
opportunity presents itself, and by so 
doing, bring about that better condition 
we are all wishing for, as soon as pos- 
sible. 

Another thought from the same 
source that should be remembered by 
the reader, for if he will hold to the 
thoughts herein presented, other ideas 
along the same line will crowd in until 
his mind seems to find most congenial 
work along lines of better thought, bet- 

28 



ter work, and a better man. And when 
he realizes this, he surely will have ob- 
tained a most happy, worth while con- 
dition in this life. 

"Man moves slowly or swiftly, does 
his work feebly or strongly, according 
to the energy that is in him. But the 
direction of his life, this way or that 
way, follows the unseen influence of 
what he admires and loves and believes 
in." 

And I would add, good thoughts 
along any certain line, seem to attract 
like thoughts. If one sets out on the lines 
of uplift ideas and can concentrate his 
mind on those lines, he will be surprised 
to learn how fast thoughts on those 
lines will accumulate, fill up, and en- 
compass his brain, until he is fairly 
elevated out of the ordinary line of 
small thoughts and little actions to a 
position where he views life in its ever 
changing moods, from a lofty more per- 

29 



feet station, where the senses of vision, 
smell, taste, and splendid ideals are 
multiplied according to his ambition to 
improve — for just as certain as does 
the dung-pile attract flies, and the 
flower pistil the honey-bee, so will bad 
thoughts increase, or good thoughts 
multiply. 

As most great men have some one 
hobby they like most to dwell on, so 
had my prophet. His dominating 
thoughts seemed to be concentrated on 
the uplift of mankind; to make the 
environments of man better, that a bet- 
ter man physically, mentally and mor- 
ally would obtain in this life was now 
to be the effort of his remaining years. 

He believed that one should so live 
that when the shadows were nearing 
their limits, he might lay aside the lit- 
tle cares of life and devote at least a 
part of his remaining years in writing 
those thoughts and experiences that to 

30 



him seemed most worth while, that the 
younger, and those to follow, might 
profit by the good things he had learned, 
and also profit, if they would by escap- 
ing the pitfalls experience had revealed 
to him at considerable cost. 

In working out his deduction he had 
studied most of the mass of matter 
written by philosophers on this line — 
Every side light on any subject that 
might have a bearing on this thought 
had been considered and after compar- 
ing notes — pondering over contradic- 
tory conclusions, sifting this and that 
plan or scheme, secured here and there 
from history six thousand years back 
and up to date — he had gleaned, he 
thought, the wheat from the chaff, and 
is well satisfied with the results. 

Again to quote Emerson, — "Each 
philosopher, each bard, each actor had 
done for him only what a delegate 
might have done and what he is now 

31 



doing for himself. The books he once 
valued more than the apple of his eye. 
he has quite exhausted. AVhat is that 
but saying, he has attained the point of 
view the universal mind took thru the 
eyes of many scribes: he has drained 
all cisterns, and waxed great by their 
supply. He craves better and more 
abundant food, knowing the man can 
never live that can feed us ever. He 
has explored the theories and laws com- 
piled by the wise men of all time, and 
his deductions are — give me insight into 
today, and you may have the antique 
and future worlds." 

Knowing that there are no two hands 
alike, no two faces alike, no two cran- 
iums alike, and hence no two minds 
alike, and for that reason, two thinkers 
will rarely if ever agree on a complex 
question of this magnitude, covering, as 
it does, so broad a field as sociology, yet, 
I must confess, I differed but little with 

32 



him on listening to his reasons for the 
conclusions arrived at, after giving 
same the careful consideration he sure- 
ly did. 

Why a Change is Necessary. 

His premises are as follows: "The 
religion of the past and present has not 
made good, considering the vast amount 
of money and time expended on same. 
In proof of this he cites present social 
conditions all over the world, and the 
fact that according to the clergy them- 
selves, there are less adult converts 
among civilized nations per capita, then 
there were fifty years ago, and yet there 
have been many millions spent each 
year for the past twenty years in this 
cause, where there were thousands 
then: that we have seemed to shoot wide 
of the mark in our uplift movement in 
endeavoring to concentrate the efforts 
in this life to that of insuring a life here- 

33 



after, and in order to do that have es- 
tablished rules and precepts that are 
unnatural, unreasonable and unbeliev- 
able, and have required the prospective 
members of denomination churches to 
subscribe to a belief based on faith in 
things unbelievable; that that practice 
has failed to accomplish its object, we 
have but to refer to the report of the 
National Conference of Churches and 
we learn that less than two per cent of 
the new members in the past twenty 
years are male adults: and from the 
same source we learn that there is a 
much smaller increase in membership 
per capita in civilized countries than 
fifty years ago, and yet millions of dol- 
lars have been spent in the cause, and 
where there were hundreds working 
the field then, there are many thou- 
sands now." He had a large list of 
bishops, priests, and preachers in all 
parts of the world who have made state- 

34 



ments in the past two or three years 
that will prove his claim; that the old 
plan is not making good. I will cite 
but two or three here, could give many 
more were it necessary. 

Bishop Welldon, of London, England, 
on returning from a conference on 
Christian Reunion at Oxford is report- 
ed as stating in an interview given at 
that time, as follows: — 

"The world is rocking under men's 
feet. Society is threatened by forces 
which repudiate the Christian faith and 
the Christian moral code. The church 
runs a grave risk of losing her influence 
upon national life; the decadency of 
regular church going has long been a 
cause of anxiety. The statistics of di- 
vorces are alarming, and it may be nec- 
essary to rebuild human morals from 
the foundation. Meanwhile the church 
is disregarded because she is divided. It 
is too much to expect the world will 

35 



listen to her when she speaks with 
many discordant voices. If the eccles- 
iastical istatesmanship-jdoes not avail 
itself of the spirit excited by the war, 
the chances of a Christian reunion or 
Christian intercommunion will be lost 
and may not recur in the life of the 
living people." 

A St. Louis paper has the following 
statement concerning the Inter-Church 
World movement: 

"Only about one child in every twenty 
in St. Louis attends Sunday School reg- 
ularly, according to a survey made by 
Protestant denominations. Apartment 
dwellers have less interest in Church 
affairs than any other class — the more 
intelligent the less interested." 

At the Inter-Church Conference held 
at Grand Forks, North Dakota, in 1920, 
it was stated by one of the speakers that 
there were in the United States fifty 
million unchurched, that there were 

36 



27,000,000 under 25 years of age who 
were receiving no religious instruction, 
and of this number 20,000 were in North 
Dakota. At this conference it was also 
stated that a budget amounting to the 
enormous sum of $336,000,000 was ask- 
ed for, this amount meaning more than 
a dollar for every minute that has 
elapsed since Christ was born. 

Rev. E. Talbot is quoted as stating 
that if the twenty-two leading evangel- 
ical churches would unite, he believed 
it would stop rivalry which has cost 
Americans $500,000,000. 

The following from a London paper 
published April 29th, 1920 has a strong 
bearing on what has been claimed: 

"Are sermons indispensable? This 
is one of the questions on which a de- 
cision may be taken by the Bishops of 
the Angelican at that meeting in Lam- 
beth in July. 

37 



"A. section of the churchmen are de- 
clared to be of the opinion that the day 
of sermons has passed. They hold that 
if a man has not the gift of preaching, 
it would be better for everyone that he 
should not preach. The 'two sermon 
Sunday' custom, they say, imposes a 
great strain on the clergy — a strain 
equally if not more heavily felt by the 
laity, who are required to listen to these 
effusions. The unpopularity of ^pub- 
lished volumes of sermons, once in great 
demand, is cited by this faction as evi- 
dence of the sermons' waning effective- 
ness." 

From another clipping, this time 
a Chicago paper: 

"The fact that a Chicago judge of the 
Superior Court resigned for the reason 
that he was 'sick and tired of hearing 
divorce cases' points to a condition of 
our social economy that needs a phys- 

38 



ician. Marriage is no longer the solemn 
and sacred condition of former ties." 

For those who may have faith in the 
visions or prophetic sayings of wise 
men, I will cite the following as quoted 
to me by my host : 

The Vision of Tolstoi. 

"You will remember the prophecy 
published some years back that was 
made by Count Leo Tolstoi, the Russian 
prophet and writer of thirty and forty 
years back? This old man was then in 
his dotage and while in a trance, as he 
called it, he had a vision in which he saw 
the great World War just ahead, the end 
of his statement of that vision is as fol- 
lows: 'The end of that great calamity 
will mark a new political era for the 
world. There will be left no empires, 
or kingdoms, but there will be born a 
federation of united states; and there 
will exist four great giant races ; and I 

39 



see a change in religious sentiment and 
the church as we know now will fail. 
And I see the dawn of a new day as the 
new thought supplants the old.' " 

As a part of that surprisingly accurate 
prophecy seems to have materialized, 
is it not possible that the thoughts pre- 
sented in this book, when adopted 
may not also prove the sequel to his 
closing remarks? Can any other plan 
be figured out so likely to bring about 
the results desired as this plan of regen- 
eration thru Community Education? 

Puts the Emphasis on This Life. 

As before stated, he had much more 
to offer on this line were it necessary, 
but is this not enough to prove from 
their own mouths that the old religion 
that places the emphasis on the life 
hereafter is but a waste of time and 
money? Does not this testimony prove 
the old system has not made good? Is 

40 



it not high time that we should change 
our tactics and, thru the medium of ed- 
ucation, endeavor to make the body 
whole, the spirit larger for this life 
and for the next, if there is one % Com- 
munity Education should appeal to all 
mankind. The thinkers as well as those 
who think but little — the mentally 
strong, as well as the mentally weak — 
the rich, the poor — the black, the yellow, 
the red or white — no matter how big 
or how small — Community Education 
will regenerate them all. 

In devising a plan to encourage a 
change of thought with the object of 
separating church and state along so- 
ciological lines, Francis Bacon once 
said: 

"It would be an unsound fancy and 
self-contradictory to expect that things 
that have never yet been done can be 
done except by means that have never 
yet been tried.' ' In his day, as it is 

41 



today, as he tells us, " There were many 
obstacles in the way, obstructing the 
path of any new theory," and he realiz- 
ed that to get a hearing "he must direct 
a destructive criticism of the older 
methods of reasoning." 

In Bacon's works on this line of 
thought he oftimes expressed this sent- 
iment — "what we learn from the ex- 
perience of others, with our own obser- 
vations constitute the sum total of our 
knowledge, all else is merely specula- 
tive. By following the new thought 
we shall also arrive at a true knowledge 
of the universe in which we live." 

The above words might quite appro- 
priately be termed the key notes or 
thoughts from which the deductions 
herein compiled were first suggested, 
and, as suggested by Emerson as pre- 
viously quoted show how thoughts along 
various lines evolve and grow some- 
times holding to the true line, and again 

42 



varying a little this way or that, in 
which case the conclusions are not ex- 
actly what the old line of thought would 
have arrived at, for the fruit is the 
result of grafting to some extent. How- 
ever, with thoughts, as with the animal 
kingdom, evolution means improve- 
ment, where there is no improvement, 
death soon follows in either case, for 
that law of nature which eliminates the 
man or beast at an early stage in life 
who follows the line of least resistance, 
applies to language and thought in a 
somewhat similar way. Each improves 
by usage, and each deteriorates without 
it. 

Knowledge The All Power. 

Knowledge is the medium suggested 
in his book as the all important pan- 
acea for the social ills of this and other 
nations, and we might well say, the 
whole world. Knowledge will part 

43 



the curtains dividing poverty from 
wealth, chaos from order, misery from 
happiness, and open the way leading to 
a peace loving, industrious, contented 
nation. Education is the only true 
medium that points with an unerring 
finger to that Utopian condition Sir 
Thomas More tells us about in his in- 
teresting story of the island where laws 
and principles were perfect, and the 
people .most happy and contented. 
(This story was suggested to More, no 
doubt, by one written many years pre- 
vious by Bacon, and his, by similar 
lines of thought suggested by the 
Greek sages fifteen hundred and two 
thousand years before. Many similar 
growths or cases of evolution could be 
cited by way of proving the evolution 
of thought.) As proof of the statement 
that knowledge is the cure for all ills 

of mankind, we ask you dear read- 

' %j 

er, to stop a moment and try to think 
44 



of some social, physical, or mental 
ill knowledge will not remedy 
in time. It will teach thrift, 
economy and purity — sure reme- 
dies for most mental troubles: it 
will encourage ambition, cleanliness 
and an optimistic disposition — sure 
cures for most physical ills. Know- 
ledge will eliminate credulity and men- 
tal cowardice, and the great fear some 
people have of death. Knowledge will 
eliminate class hatred, jealousy and 
malice, substitute kindness, sym- 
pathy, and brotherly love. Knowl- 
edge will assure a more intel- 
ligent vote — the remedy for near- 
ly if not all social ills of city, state, 
or nation. If this be true, and I think 
no intelligent person will deny it, should 
we not concentrate our thoughts, our 
time, and our money on a line of action 
that shall encourage every effort, 
every opportunity offered to advance 

45 



this idea? If knowledge will bring about 
the results desired, and philosophers 
agree it is the only medium that will, 
the sooner we make this fact plain to all, 
the quicker will be our redemption from 
a false rule of action — one that seems 
to have led us into great political and 
economic failures and almost to moral 
bankruptcy — one that seems to have 
turned every man against his fellow 
man, and gave us a world war, the like 
of which was never experienced in past 
history — one that offers no brighter 
future than before obtained. For when 
we pin our faith to a future life only, 
and place all earthly efforts — millions 
upon millions in money, and thousands 
of thousands of lives — on preparing for 
that life according to the religious 
teachings of the past two thousand 
years — a thinking mind will see no im- 
provement in store for us, because it will 
realize that this teaching will always 

46 



interest only a minority, and allow the 
vast majority to drift on aimlessly as 
in the past, as the record obtained in the 
late world-wide movement will prove. 
As drifting certainly does not spell up- 
lift, it is high time, he believes, 
we should figure out a new 
rule of action, and it should 
be so comprehensive and yet so 
plain that all classes, all nations, and all 
peoples, no matter what their birth, lan- 
guage or education, may be, will find in 
it a solution for the political and social 
ills of our days — that will guarantee 
them better conditions in every walk of 
life — that means — better economic con- 
ditions, better city, state and national 
conditions, better mental and physical 
and moral conditions, better health, 
more love, more sympathy, and more 
charity — all of which will aid very mat- 
erially in bringing about a more con- 
tented happy life here and now with a 

47 



certainty of progressing to the next 
world, should there be another life, on 
a much higher plane than would obtain 
under the present system that holds 
over one the threat of a future punish- 
ment, instead of proof of a sure punish- 
ment here and now for every law of 
nature transgressed. 

My Doubt No. 1 and the Explanation. 

I suggested that his ideals were sure- 
ly sublime, but that I was inclined to 
doubt their feasibility, for I realized 
that philosophers of all times had en- 
deavored to reach the same happy con- 
ditions, but had seemed to miss fire 
somewhere in their plans — and as be- 
fore stated — even the great religious 
program that had held man's destiny 
in the palm of its hand for the past two 
or three thousand years, with all of its 

48 



Papal authority, and the power of the 
clergy — its untold millions in money 
and workers, seemed to fail in accomp- 
lishing the goal aimed at — for their ad- 
vocates admit today, that the following 
is much less in proportion now than a 
century ago — if population, education, , 
and the millions expended are consider- 
ed. Knowing this, of course, I most 
naturally would be skeptical, and I said 
" Community Education " looks like 
the only panacea that might accomp- 
lish what the threat of everlasting dam- 
nation in the future life has failed to 
do — but the great question in my mind 
is — How are you going to compel a peo- 
ple to be educated? Education is now 
pretty freely offered to all, but few 
seem to care to take advantage of it. 
The average run of adults would prefer 
a dance or ball-game to that of attend- 
ing a class in economics, hygiene, cook- 
ing, or political economy. And right 

49 



here is where the working out of your 
idea, it seems to me, must prove im- 
practicable." 

My wise old friend only smiled and 
said " After you have heard the story 
thru perhaps it will not appear so vis- 
ionary." 

And then he went on to explain how 
he would interest each and every per- 
son, if in their right mind, man, woman 
and child, who had ears to hear and eyes 
to see, his plan would surely interest. 

To get the eyes and ears of a people 
who think on large questions but little, 
would first require a community-hall 
large enough to seat the people of the 
town. In large towns, of course, several 
such halls would be necessary — circuits 
would be arranged to accommodate the 
various towns desiring to become mem- 
bers of the association, and there would 
be a faculty arranged large enough to 

50 



take care of each circuit as desired. 
These teachers, lecturers, or demonstra- 
tors, as the cases may require, will visit 
each town on the circuit as often as nec- 
essary — at first, perhaps, there will be 
but one day in a week. As Sunday would 
be the best day to get people out on 
that day there would be one, two or 
three meetings — one for the general 
public, one for the younger class, and 
perhaps one to men only and at the same 
time, one for women only in another 
room in the same building. These talks 
would be on every line of thought of in- 
terest to the public. Of course, each 
and all spelling uplift in one way or 
another, some on hygiene, others on 
economic questions, politics, cooking, 
raising the children. The teachers, 
professors, and demonstrators would 
be required to pass examinations held 
by an examining board who were ex- 
perts on the line of work to be ex- 

51 



pounded. The expert lecturers would 
be composed of those scientists who had 
much experience along their various 
lines — physicians, surgeons, political 
economics, sociologists, and the like. 
The community-hall meetings, after 
once introduced would prove so practic- 
able and profitable that each commun- 
ity would vote a tax to support it, the 
same as schools are now supported. In 
fact, they would be nothing more or 
less than great community schools 
teaching everything of importance to 
young and old not taught in the regu- 
lar grade schools. 

Doubt No. 2 and the Answer. 

"But," I rather impatiently inter- 
jected, "How are you going to interest 
Mary Jane Casserly, our washerwom- 
an, who doesn't know the definition of 
the word education, and cares less about 
it?" 

52 



" Wait and you shall hear" — and then 
the following "To get the public inter- 
ested, we must have meat for all — fun, 
art, music and more solid food in the 
shape of lectures on the various subjects 
suggested, but these talks, demonstra- 
tions, and artists' efforts must be sand- 
wiched in between other amusements 
that all may be interested. Programs 
consisting of not too much of any one 
line, with a good mixture of things to be 
taught would be the plan for each and 
every meeting when intended for the 
general public. Of course, there would 
be talks and lectures on special lines, 
when it would be expected that only 
those interested would attend, such as 
talks on surgery, astronomy, geology, 
botany, etc. The main object in getting 
up each program, for the general 
public w^ould be to make it, or some 
parts of it, that would appeal to every- 
one having ears to hear and eyes to see. 

53 



So to begin with, each meeting must be 
arranged so as to ^ing as 

ssible — later on. as the general pub- 
lic gets more interested in the advan- 
ta ges : : be derived from the more solid 
subjects, it will not necessitate so much 
of the lighter amusements to encourage 

:h and all to turn out. 

* ' You ask me how will Mary Jane Cas- 
ested — just imagine the 
following conversation now being car- 
ried on over her back yard fence with 
her neighbor. Airs. O'Brien — with your- 
self within hearing distano- — Airs. 
GTBrien is telling of the Community 
Meeting she attended the day before 
Sunday i . 

" 'Indeed it was line/ sh s s. ; and 
ev T - there — the best music I 

er heard, the pipe organ seemed to 
shake the roof, and everybody joined In 
singing the patriotic pieces, and I tell 

11. it was me sing — i: seemed lik^ 

54 



great Hallelujah meeting and every one 
doing his or her best to make it a suc- 
cess. After the singing a man came 
out and drew Mutt and Jeff pictures as 
fast as you could count, and I laughed 
until my sides ached; then a lady came 
out and talked in just plain English — 
I could understand every word she said, 
she started in by saying what a fine 
thing it would be if everybody owned 
their own little home. I say little 
home, said she, because most people do 
own their big homes, and in nearly 
every case, not all, but a large majority, 
own them because they saved and sav- 
ed and paid for their home — instead of 
paying out the money for pool, billiards, 
tobacco, and the movies. You cannot 
have everything in this world, and if 
you prefer the movies and ice cream and 
cigars and things like that, then you 
cannot expect to have the pleasure of 
living in your own little home, for few 

55 



make enough to pay for both — observ 
tion shov^ is hat those living in small 
houses which they rent are usually the 
ones who patronize the shows and bil- 
liard halls most. I do not ask anyone 
- :::— - ^:- : :hr ::lr;-..--"Ji"'rS :: life — 
ii s a matter for each family to figure 
out for themselves, but if yon dec! 

1 would prefer to spend a good share 
of your earnings for those small thiru - 
of life, yon must not be envious of your 
neighbor who goes to movies perha: - 
onee a month, and has cut out the lar _ 

pense of tobacco and so on that he 
may own a little home where he can take 
pleasure as well as profit b tting ont 
berry bushes, shade trees, rhubar as- 
paragus, and keep a cow, or a few chick- 
ens as well- To gather the eggs, the milk, 
berries and garden truck yields to him a 
"oleaSMT- :-r:: tines iTrat^r thai. "~ \;1 1 
the pleasures of a few cold drinks that 
please for a moment and are forgotten. 

5o 



Compare these fleeting pleasures with 
the thought presented by that great 
American philosopher, Franklin, when 
he said, in showing the pleasure of being 
thought well of 'Now that I have a cow 
and a pig and own a little home, people 
say Good Day to me as they pass by.' 
Oh, the pleasures are many for the home 
owner but how shallow and unsatisfying 
are those of the spender. Then she 
told us to take home one of the little 
books that would be offered, at no cost 
to us, as we left the hall, and if we were 
wise enough to profit by what we could 
read in it, we might all own homes and 
be out of debt in a few years. 

■ ' ' Sure, Mike and I are going to liye up 
to the teachings of that little book, he 
has cut out a part of his tobacco and I 
shall take in the moyies but once a 
month hereafter. And Mary Jane, af- 
ter the lady told us much about how to 
economize in cooking and in many other 

57 



ways, and yet we would not be any 
worse off in the way of nutrition, and in 
dress, etc., a man came out and got us 
all to laughing again telling us how a 
young couple would spoon a while, he 
being flush with show tickets, candy and 
such, and she full of make believes with 
her wigs, powder and paint — after a 
spell of rubbing noses and talking non- 
sense, they get married. For a month 
or two things go fine ; then the cave man 
begins to assert himself and Jack thinks 
he should be a little more the boss, a lit- 
tle more demonstrative in showing his 
authority, gives his bride of two months 
or such a black eye by way of emphasis, 
and repeats the performance in another 
month or two; when Mary begins to 
think life as a wife is not what it first 
seemed — pays a lawyer and gets a di- 
vorce. Well, after telling us how things 
shouldn't have been, he turns around 
and shows how things should have been 

58 



— and to tell you the truth, I think every 
husband and wife who heard his talk on 
the value of love and right living, will 
be better to each other, better to their 
children, and better neighbors, for he 
showed them in such a nice way, the 
happiness and contentment in married 
life for those who know enough to live 
it right. Then they all stood up and 
sang another patriotic piece, and sure I 
could feel the whole building shake, for 
everyone seemed full of good cheer, and 
like the birds in the spring, seemed anx- 
ious to express their pleasure in song, 
that the world might know the happi- 
ness within. Not for a pair of twins, 
Mary Jane — as much as I would like 
them — would I miss those community 
schools, and my man says they have 
made the world ten times as big and five 
times better than he thought it was, for, 
says he 'before these meetings, the 
world to me was the railroad-shop, the 

59 



pool-hall, with the company of about 
fifteen or twenty of the boys, and the 
privilege of living in a railroad shack, 
and having a time out once a month. 
Now along come these educationalists, 
and connect us up with their circuit, and 
its just like a big phonograph; all you 
have to do is set and listen and look, and 
you get the w^orld before you, the more 
you go the bigger the world ! If anyone 
thinks it's not worth while, let them at- 
tend one of those public meets, and if 
they miss another, it will be because 
they would have to go in an ambulance 
to get there. ' And everybody is as wel- 
come as anybody else, Mary Jane, it be- 
longs to you and me just as much as it 
belongs to Jones, the banker, for the 
town pays the expenses, and everybody 
is taxed for that, you know. Next Sun- 
day you go with Mike and me, they have 
a place there to take care of the kiddies, 
so that won't keep you home/ " 

60 



And then this — Carry your imagina- 
tion on this line a little fur- 
ther, and hear what old man 
Smith and Bill Jones are talk- 
ing about, who might be passing 
just as Mrs. O'Brien finishes her talk 
with her neighbor. Smith is saying to 
Jones — "If we'd had those community 
talks when I was a boy I'd be president 
of the United States by this time — I just 
crazed for something in this line, some- 
one to give me the right ideas, the right 
motives, and the way to climb high; 
someone — you know — to sort of give 
you a boost in the right direction at the 
right time. You know what a warm 
sun and soil will do for a kernel of corn 
— I was like a kernel of corn and the en- 
ergy was in me, but the sun failed to 
shine in the way of good advice, when I 
needed it most. I tell you, Jones, when 
a man's thinking high, and most men do 
at some period of their life, then is the 

61 



time they need the right kind of help, 
and how could they get it better than in 
the way it's given out in these meet- 
ings? And you know it's made a great 
difference in so many ways in our town 
— people have seemed to just plumb for- 
get about the price of hogs, flour, and 
shoes, to figure everything in dollars 
and cents. Today they realize money 
and profits and trades and the like are 
but trash as compared to the new light 
that guarantees contentment and hap- 
piness thru education — something that 
makes the teamster, the cobbler, and the 
blacksmith as contented with life and 
as happy as they would be if they could 
change places with the banker, because 
they know now that contentment cannot 
be bought, traded, or borrowed, but can 
be obtained in only one way, and that is 
RIGHT LIVING and the secret is theirs 
for the taking. Isn't it strange, Jones, 
that the people of this old world have 

62 



wasted so many, many centuries in look- 
ing for a prophet to lead them out of 
darkness, when all the time the remedy 
was within their grasp, and its name 
was simply EDUCATION? Now the 
young see the light and are all figuring 
on finishing high school as quickly as 
possible to push on to higher and bet- 
ter things at the university or college, 
where they can soar as high as they 
please, and their tuition will cost them 
not a cent. The married folks, both 
young and old, are now vieing with one 
another in their cooking contests, in 
their budgets for household expenses, 
and in their health records. You know 
now it's very unpopular to be sick for it 
denotes, in most cases, carelessness or 
excesses in some manner or other, of 
course, with some few exceptions, 
knowing this, those who are sick are 
ashamed to tell it, for it spells over-in- 
dulgence, laziness, or mental weakness 

63 



on their part. The shows are better and 
more elevating, for people will not pat- 
ronize a film company that puts out 
plays that encourage a morbid mentali- 
ty. Athletic games are more interest- 
ing and more worth while now that we 
know the value of good clean contests. 
The streets are cleaner, parks prettier, 
and taxes lower, with a community 
spirit filling the hearts of all, encour- 
aging that condition of general fellow- 
ship and brotherly love, with content- 
ment, and happiness everywhere, with 
envy, malice and hatred almost forgot- 
ten—the condition so long sought for, 
but never obtained until education solv- 
ed the problem." 

"Yes," says Jones, "I begin to real- 
ize for the first time in my life that 
neither dollars nor dullards spell happi- 
ness, but that a life rightly lived is the 
only key to the solution. You know, 
Smith, a good lot of real worth-while 

64 



pleasure has been slipping by unnoticed 
and unappreciated by us all — pleasures 
that should fill us with gladness, and 
yet costs not a cent. Honestly, I am 
like a man just awakened out of a long 
sleep with dreams aplenty, but all on 
small things ; the flowers look brighter, 
smell better, and seem sweeter than ever 
before; the song of the birds interests 
me more. I seem to hear their song so 
much of tener than before, and somehow 
they sound sweeter than ever. Before 
I thought of birds as crows, black birds, 
robins, and sparrows; now I know 
more than twenty varieties, their songs, 
and their homes, and I get much pleas- 
ure in watching them as well as listen- 
ing to their varied notes; each and ail 
seem to strike a responsive chord in my 
makeup, and do you know, I'd hate aw- 
fully to have their lives nearly elimin- 
ated from my own, as it was before these 
community talks opened up the book of 

65 



all nature, and toned up my dormant 
faculties. It's quite plain to me now 
to figure the difference between a piano 
badly out of tune, and one nicely tuned 
by an artist for, altho, I can hardly tell 
one note from another, yet judging by 
the difference in the way of the pleasing 
influence I get in hearing the song of 
the birds now and how little it was be- 
fore I knew enough to recognize the 
sweet things of life when I come in 
touch with them, I can easily judge 
what proper tuning should do for a 
piano. Before these meets I would 
have spells in which things looked very 
blue, could scarcely see a bright cloud 
on the horizon, and at such times I very 
much doubted my ability to make good. 
Now it is different — I can see opportuni- 
ties opening up on every hand. Why, 
it seems as if I was needed everywhere, 
for I have learned of the power within 
me, if I but use the engine right. Some- 

66 



how I feel like going out in the fields and 
yelling at the top of my voice ' whoop la 
— whoop la — Bill Jones has found him- 
self, and from this time on, just watch 
his smoke V Those talks to young men 
were my redemption; they seemed to 
shake me up like. I just seemed to be 
the object of every talk and like a novice 
in wrestling with an expert, I was sim- 
ply picked up and slammed down again, 
punched here and there. I got it in the 
ribs, on the jaw, and over the ears, but, 
as with the beginner in the boxing game, 
the lesson was good and seems neces- 
sary, before I could realize my possibili- 
ties, if I was ambitious enough to profit 
by the training. They just put the pep 
in me, and today I'm proud to say, 
Jones' ego is way above par and going 
higher fast." 

The following words are those of an- 
other thinker, and as they seem to ap- 

67 



ply very well to what lias just been 
written. I will quote them: 

"It is a Disgrace — to be lazy, indol- 
ent, indifferent. 

"To do poor, slipshod, botched work. 
To have crude, brutish, repulsive man- 
ners. To hide a talent because you 
have but one. To live half a life when a 
whole life is possible. To acknowledge 
a fault and make no effort to overcome 
it. Not to be scrupulously clean in per- 
son and smToundings. To be grossly 
ignorant of the customs and usages of 
good society. To kick over the ladder 
upon which yon have climbed to your 
position. Not to be able to carry on in- 
telligently a conversation upon current 
topics. Not to know enough about the 
laws of health to live healthfully and 
sanely. To know practically nothing 
scientifically of the things we see, han- 
dle, and enjoy every day of our lives. 
Not to have intelligent knowledge of 

68 



the general affairs of the world, and the 
interrelations of nations." 

Doubt No. 3 and His Explanation. 

I must confess that his plan did not 
seem so impractical to me as it did be- 
fore hearing his program for interesting 
the prospective student who was to be 
educated along the material walks of life 
under a community system. But, as 
Bunyan would say, another great chasm 
seemed t$ obstruct the path. If, in 
time, owing to college education being 
offered for the taking, — for the expense 
would be paid by the state as far as tui- 
tion was concerned, — all the young peo- 
ple would take advantage of such a 
splendid opportunity, then in a few 
years everyone, or the large majority 
anyway, would be educated, and many 
would take up professions of various 
kinds under those conditions, who 
would do the menial labor — housework, 

69 



ditch digging, shop work and so forth? 
These thoughts bothered me not a little, 
for I now knew so much of his great up- 
lift idea, that I hoped with all my heart 
that it could be made practical. As he 
did not touch upon this point, I gradu- 
ally worked up to it in our talks in such 
a way that he discovered my perplexity 
without the question being asked, and he 
said: 

"Of course, in explaining a plan cov- 
ering so much ground, and in a way rev- 
olutionizing previous ideas on similar 
lines, one is apt to overlook the little de- 
tails. Yet, if any one of those little de- 
tails fails to work as planned, then the 
whole scheme must fail, for a plan that 
shall improve social conditions must 
consider everything that shall have a 
bearing on the problem from every side. 
In my book, I believe, I have covered 
the ground quite thoroughly. Still I 
expect others to make corrections and 

70 



improvements. You, perhaps, wonder 
who will do the drudgery, the work of 
the scavenger, etc. In the first place, 
the less attractive and harder the work 
is, the higher will be the pay for such 
work. Of course, as it is today, this 
work receives the smallest pay because 
there are more who can do it than there 
are those who can do other work, the 
higher the expert, the greater the pay. 
Now the conditions I hope would pre- 
vail under the new system will be such 
as to make the class of common laborers 
much less in number than that of many 
other vocations. This, of course, will 
reverse the standard of pay, and right- 
fully should under those conditions. 
Then this class of work that doesn't re- 
quire skilled artisans will be done, not 
by any one class as now, but in part at 
least by the young men and women who 
may, for various reasons, wish to make 
big money in the least time possible. 

71 



They may desire to go travelling for a 
few weeks or months during vacations 
another year, or when school days are 
over, or they may want to put in the 
spare time in this way to pay their 
room and board while at school, to 
pay for clothes, or buy a home or 
farm, or to start in their chosen line of 
work. Education will not be as apt to 
eliminate work, under those conditions, 
as it does now. However, work is the 
greatest foe of mischief, and as a health 
restorer there is nothing that equals it 
and as both health and a clear con- 
science are ne'cessary conditions before 
contentment and happiness can be as- 
sured, work must not be eliminated. 
There, too, will always be a class, altho 
I hope it will be much smaller than now, 
who would prefer work to that of secur- 
ing a college education, and also, those 
who for various reasons, cannot spare 
time for higher education. Many will 

72 



prefer other lines than those requiring a 
university education — merchants, 
blacksmiths, farmers, etc. As before 
stated — to get big money in the shortest 
time, they will be available for any kind 
of work that pays well. This rule will 
hold good, I think, for the young women 
also, for with intelligent people, honest 
work of any kind is honorable. 

That class of young men and women 
who prepare themselves for teachers, 
demonstrators, and scientific lecturers, 
and those whose work is in the line of 
amusing by acting or music or drawing 
for the circuits, must, of necessity, as 
time lengthens, be very large, and their 
pay — as well as the remuneration for 
every line of work — will be governed as 
now according to the law of supply and 
demand. 

"The programs, as before stated, would 
be most interesting for both young and 
old, the educated as well as the illiter- 

73 



ate, for the topics, demonstrations, and 
amusements would be arranged from an 
educational standpoint, with the one 
idea in mind — that of general uplift all 
along the line — the health; rearing of 
children; economics and its various 
branches for Home, City, State, and Na- 
tion; athletics, and on all investigations, 
discoveries, and experiments by scien- 
tists — all of which would tend to bring 
about that standard of living that 
should spell better homes, better towns, 
and a better country — a better man 
physically, mentally, and morally — 
when contentment and happiness, with 
brotherly love, sympathy, and charity 
shall reign supreme — and envy, malice 
and hatred be eliminated; where the 
greedy profiteer and the immoral rake 
will receive the same careful considera- 
tion that is now given the rattler and 
the three-leaved ivy — For a community 
education will quickly realize the bad 

74 



effect on the general public, in the 
neighborhood, the town and the state, of 
those pernicious pests, and either ostra- 
cize them, or build them over into new 
and better animals. To be sure, there 
are educated men and women who are 
moral degenerates, thieves, swindlers, 
and murderers — but they are small in 
proportion to those of the same class who 
are illiterate. However, when the truth 
of the great harm this class can do, and 
what an economic waste they really 
are to a community, as will be shown 
by these talks, pictures, and demon- 
strations, they will be as quickly tak- 
en care of as were the yellow fever- 
carrying mosquitoes from Cuba as soon 
as they are discovered, or as would 
the skunk that might invade your chick- 
en-coop. Community education, like a 
great search-light, will show up the 
dark places and purify the atmosphere; 
then neither money nor social standing 

75 



will save the rake, the double-standard 
virtue thief, or the social lounge lizard, 
for the Devil could walk the golden 
streets of Paradise without being dis- 
covered much easier than could these 
parasites live and prosper in an educat- 
ed community. ' ' 

Doubt No. 5 and the Answer. 

This mountain of doubt removed, I 
next wondered how he figured on get- 
ting his new thought — his Community 
Educational plan — started, and his 
reply to this question was as follows: 

"I have no plan at this time further 
than that of getting these thoughts be- 
fore the people, hoping that thru forces 
of that unknown but ever present power 
that seems to control the destinies of 
man, and manifested by its inviolable 
law of the survival of the fittest, they 
may be accepted, and in that case I an- 
ticipate they will grow and grow and 

76 



ever be improved upon until possibly 
future generations will know them only 
as the old roots from which much graft- 
ing produced the splendid social condi- 
tion then obtained. It's just possible, 
that in carrying out this plan, this unde- 
fined power — some call it 'God' given 
power — it all depends on how you define 
the meaning of the word 'God' — will 
show the light to one or more men who 
have the money, the executive ability, 
and the inclination to have their names 
perpetuated for future history, who will 
start the movement. It will spread 
fast, w r hen its great value to a Town, 
City, State and Nation is discovered. 
For surely the great advantage offered 
by a community-hall with its trained 
educators, in every line of life, spelling 
uplift, patriotism, love of family, home, 
and country, will quickly be realized 
and appreciated; then will the move- 
ment grow and multiply until it covers 

77 



the civilized world, and as education un- 
winds the film of knowledge of all na- 
ture, we will live under better condi- 
tions ; have a better understanding, and 
a clearer vision, in the near future, as 
the results of this community education 
plan. Then will obtain that Utopian 
condition so much desired — when com- 
munities will be as one big family, with 
interests joined for better conditions in 
the neighborhood, in the city, state and 
nation — then will class hatred, profit- 
eering, and poverty decrease here, there 
and everywhere — for as the sunbeams 
are death to mildew germs — so is educa- 
tion death to each and every theory, 
practice and belief that does not spell 
uplift in every sense of the word," 

Summary, 

The foregoing covers briefly the idea 
of a plan that would aid much in bring- 
ing about in the least possible time, that 

78 



condition on earth man has striven for 
since the first thought of better condi- 
tions entered his mind. In our talks at 
times on other subjects, and on side 
lights on his main topic, I was able to 
get many good things that I thought 
worthy of consideration — one day on 
some one thought, the next on perhaps 
a subject we had not touched at all. Be- 
fore retiring each night I would make 
a note of what I wished to retain, some 
of them are given here. It 's not unlike- 
ly that each subject may interest some 
reader, and possibly, help in clearing the 
reader's mind of cloudy moods, and 
push him on to brighter and better 
thoughts. I am sure they are worthy 
of the reader's attention. 



79 



WHY RELIGION? 

" Since the dawn of intelligence, man 
has endeavored to fathom the secrets of 
the origin, death and the future condi- 
tions of mankind. In the primitive pe- 
riod, the law of self-preservation was 
the dominating thought, the all-absorb- 
ing effort of his existence, and, of 
course, is today, perhaps, the main law 
governing the impulse of the human 
race. In fact, it seems to be one of the 
most natural laws of all life ; but as the 
mind of man developed and the pleas- 
ures of life multiplied, a desire to con- 
tinue life even though under different 
circumstances in another world grew 
apace. The wish fathered the thought, 
and life after death became a theory 
the majority were glad to subscribe to. 
Every race in every clime, white, black, 

80 



yellow and red, savage or civilized, fig- 
ured out a future life most suitable to 
their desires. And so, we of today, 
living under probably the highest in- 
tellectual conditions at this time, have 
a beautiful city with pearly gates and 
golden streets prepared for us, provid- 
ing we accept the belief of a certain line 
of teachers. The followers of Moham- 
med have their splendid haven of rest 
awaiting the true followers of their 
prophet, and the more Christians they 
kill the surer are they of obtaining it. 
The Buddhist his re-incarnation into 
that condition of life most befitting him 
after dwelling in this sin-laden world 
for a time, his Nirvana is a home where 
neither desire, cares nor wants enter. 
The American Indian, and many other 
races of a lesser developed intellect, 
have their future hunting grounds 
where the race is over fields of clover, 
thru forests filled with game, and 

81 



streams and lakes with fish abundant 
await their pleasure. 

"Beautiful dreams — and we surely 
hope each and all will find their heart's 
desire awaiting the faithful in this life. 
We sometimes wonder if man is wise 
in allowing himself to indulge in doubt- 
ful speculation — why not follow the 
route of least resistance and accept the 
beautiful theories prepared by others? 
There is no question but what a large 
majority are satisfied with the habit of 
delegating to others this interesting 
work, and the farther back in history 
one goes, the more prone were the peo- 
ple to follow a leader whether a proph- 
et of the pearly-gate plan or the happy 
hunting-ground as pictured by a coun- 
cil of Indian Medicine men. Few 
there were and few there are, who wish 
or care to make their own deductions on 
a problem so agreeably figured out for 
them. Why stop to ask ' whys' like 

82 



Gladstone, who said, 'My mother's re- 
ligion is good enough for me.' ' Splen- 
did,' echoes his fellow men. 'But how 
very unreasonable,' say we. 'Would 
Gladstone have accepted his mother's 
opinion on any other great problem?' 
Hardly, and yet on so great a problem 
as that concerning the future life, he is 
willing to abide by her decision. He, no 
doubt, realized it was a problem a boy 
of ten could figure with as much cer- 
tainty as the wisest of men. Many 
great men have been quoted on the 
same, line, some correctly and many 
falsely, all to bolster up a theory abso- 
lutely unbelievable by any unbiased 
honest thinker. But there are some 
who will not admit, or intimate, or al- 
low it to be inferred that they believe 
in any one of the various theories offer- 
ed as to the future state of the spirit or 
the soul of man, or the manner in which 
that life is attained, regardless of the 

83 



fact that they are called hypocrites, 
bigots, and sinners. " 

On this line of thought we have the 
following from that splendid old nature 
student, philosopher and writer — John 
Burroughs — 

"The term religion is an equivocal 
and much abused word — one's habits on 
sanitary lines, dieting, over-indulgence, 
or economy may properly be termed his 
religion as well as his belief in a life 
hereafter and the only way to attain it. 

"Treated as a belief, a passport to the 
next world, religion in some form is as 
natural to man as eating or sleeping. 
The mysteries of life, and wonder and 
terror of the world arouse notions of 
awe and fear and worship in him as 
soon as his power of reflection is formed. 
"In man's early history, religion, phil- 
osophy and literature were one ; he wor- 
shipped before he investigated" (how 

84 



many do it now) "he built temples be- 
fore lie built schools. 

"But the old theory of religion as 
dominated by creeds and dogmas has 
had its day, and we are passing on to 
better things because we are now work- 
ing from a more solid foundation.' ' 

To him this new plan of action would 
be considered a new religion that must 
surpass the old for it substitutes facts 
for fancy, knowledge for mysticism 
and truth for credulity. 

"I am much inclined to believe there 
is a future life, not entirely because I 
wish it, but because there are many 
things we see in life that seem to argue 
in favor of a future existence, and, of 
course, many things observed argue 
very strongly to the contrary. While 
all living things seem to die and rot 
that other plant life may be nourished, 
which in turn nourishes animal life 

85 



which dies, decays, and again builds up 
life, and so on; with man, and for all 
we know now, with all animal life — 
there seems — some put it more posi- 
tively and say 'there is a dual life' — 
one, the life of the body, and the other, 
the spirit. Whether the spirit or soul 
lives on after life in the body is dead or 
not has been the all absorbing problem 
of thinkers for the past five thousand 
years or more, and the solution seems no 
more apparent now than when first dis- 
cussed. 

u We have discovered that the tadpole 
changes into a frog; the caterpillar into 
a butterfly; and the jelly-fish into a biped 
or quadruped, according to its environ- 
ments. But, whether this life is the 
cause of another after death is still a 
sealed mystery, and I believe it would 
be so decided were the question voted 
on by the recognized unbiased thinkers 
of the world. They would not, I think, 

86 



hold positively that there was no life 
after death, but, rather, that there is no 
acceptable proof of it, and perhaps 
would go so far as to say that if there 
were a life after death, it most naturally 
would mean a progression, or spiritual 
evolution of the soul of this life, and in 
that case they would hold that the more 
perfectly developed the spirit or mind 
or soul — whichever you like — in this 
life, the higher the plane in the next, 
regardless of a belief or nonbelief in 
any set of creeds. This being fair, and 
not an unreasonable assumption, it 
must follow that the more perfect the 
body, the better and stronger the spirit 
or mind. This being also logical, as all 
specialists on mind or body will attest, 
it then is quite apparent to all who will 
think for a moment, that one 's environ- 
ment in this life has most to do with the 
state or development of the life at birth 
into the next world — if there is one. 

87 



And, this also being a fair and logical 
deduction, it brings us back to the 
foundation of a most perfect physical 
and spiritual being as the result of good 
environment as brought about by the 
only medium possible — EDUCA- 
TION,' ' 

"Of course," he said, "you must 
realize that in a small volume on so 
large a subject, one can touch only the 
high spots, sowing a few seeds, here 
and now, as it were, hoping for a good 
crop of ' Straight Thinking' in the near 
future as the result." 

I happened to think of a few lines I 
had oftimes heard repeated, in support 
of the blessings assured the believer of 
the Christian faith, and as this point 
had not been covered as yet in any of 
our talk, I handed him the lines to 
read, which ran as follows : 

88 



"I have seen her rub and scrub 
In the wash-board in her tub ; 
While the children soaked in suds 
Roll and tumble in the dust. 

She still clinging, is clinging, 

to her Friend 

Who will keep her to the end. 

Human hopes and human creeds, 
Have their root in human needs. 

And I would not care to strip 
From that washerwoman's lips, 
Any song that she may sing, 
Any hope that song may bring, 
For the woman has a Friend 
Who will keep her to the end." 

After reading it, he replied — " Com- 
munity Education would take that 
wash-board from that woman and give 
her better work at better pay, with 
which she could rescue her little ones 
from the 'suds and dust' and care for 

89 



them as they should be, or pension her 
sufficiently for her to do it. Then would 
her song of delight change from the 
hope of the future to the blessings of 
the present. With the knowledge that 
according to the development mentally, 
morally and physically here — altogether 
building up a more perfect being — spir- 
it, if you will — would she advance to an- 
other world, should there be one." 

A prominent philosopher of this dec- 
ade once said — 

"The most formidable weapon against 
error of every kind is reason; reason is 
nourished to a high development thru 
education.' ' 



90 



PATRIOTISM. 

The principles underlying our sys- 
tem of government consist of the best 
set of plans for a self-governing people 
yet devised, and are the result of select- 
ing the best features from all govern- 
ments in the past. 

There is no system yet devised that 
guarantees as good results as can be ob- 
tained thru the honest use of a free se- 
cret ballot. The higher we prize that 
ballot, the more valuable will it prove 
to be as a sure cure for all political ills. 
Are there poor, vicious or class laws — 
laws that seem to be framed for the spe- 
cial benefit of a certain class — oil mo- 
nopolies, packers, or railroad men's 
unions — each and every law can be rem- 
edied by the use of the ballot. Can you, 
Mr. Reader, figure out any system, any 
plan, whereby laws could be enacted for 

91 



the benefit of the masses, and all other 
laws abridged or entirely eliminated 
any better or more quickly than the free 
secret ballot ? 

The foregoing being self-evident, and 
in addition thereto, having a country 
filled to overflow with all the good 
things necessary to life, as well as, per- 
haps, the most beautiful, healthiest, and 
best governed land on earth, what more 
should we ask? Then why should there 
be room for the Reds, or Bolsheviks, or 
Discontents under whatever flag they 
may flaunt ? Asa great stateman once 
said: 

" There is no place in this country for 
a traitor. There is no spot on this broad 
domain of ours where for a single in- 
stant a conspirator may sit and incu- 
bate the germs of lawlessness and revo- 
lution. We are Americans first, and the 
spirit of the Republic swells within the 

92 



heart of every true American. When 
we admit within the gates of our great 
country the cosmopolitan hordes of 
alien people, we expect them to live up 
to the traditions for which our fore- 
fathers fought, and unless they do, they 
must go. The advocate of the torch, 
the apostle of mass action against the 
fundamentals of our Government, the 
poisonous reptile who seeks by word or 
deed to undermine our institutions, must 
expect the treatment red-blooded 
Americans mete out to all things un- 
clean and unsound. ' ' 

The following by an editor in the 
West is not out of place in this con- 
nection: 

"The worst aspect of a certain com- 
mon form of radicalism is that it is born 
of hate, lives by hate, and would die if 
hate were eliminated. 

93 



"The radical of this type must con- 
stantly lash his fury by hot terms of 
hate applied to the beneficiaries of the 
existing order, which he aims to over- 
throw. Personal contact between him 
and the objects of his wrath would be 
fatal to his philosophy, because he 
would find them human beings like him- 
self. On the other hand, such personal 
contact would be wholesome for the rich 
man also, because he would find that 
many of the radicals are human beings 
too, even if embittered ones. 

"It is perfectly silly to hate people 
who have succeeded under the existing 
order. If you think the existing order 
is bad and wrong, hatred of it might be 
logical, but not hatred of those who ben- 
efit by it. It would be more logical to 
pity the rich man, especially if he is one 
of those who has traded everything 
worth while in this world for wealth. 
But why hate him ? 

94 



' ' Surely nobody is in a position to hate 
those who benefit by the existing order 
unless he is perfectly sure that if he had 
had the same opportunities and taste 
and capacity, he would not have profit- 
ed by the existing order himself." 

And again using the sentiment, in 
connection with our own, of another 
statesman, the late Win. B. Cookran — 
who said in part : 

"We believe that the very essence of 
civilization is mutual interests, mutual 
forbearance, mutual co-operation. ' ' 
Now, in his forceful language, he 
would say — Men, today, should stand 
shoulder to shoulder with their backs to 
the wall, if necessary, and fight as a 
solid unit against Bolsheviks. Soviet 
principles may improve or may not a 
country where fully eighty per cent of 
the people can neither read nor write, 
but will never help a people who under- 

95 



stand what a free secret ballot means 
for them. Under Soviet rule here, civ- 
ilization would revert to the condition 
of the cave man, and all the improve- 
ments socially, economically, and mor- 
ally of the past two thousand years 
would soon be swept aside, for the guer- 
illa man would quickly develop when 
every vestige of civilized man would be 
swept away, and the world would be in 
intellectual darkness for many decades, 
again. For when the selfish nature is 
unrestrained in man his downfall fol- 
lows fast and furious indeed. ' ' 

The artisan, the professional man, 
and the banker, each and all, should 
realize that thru Community efforts, 
Community interests, and Community 
Education, can man be saved from his 
own weaknesses. 

Citizens of this United States 
should be the most patriotic people in 
the world for "Old Glory " waves over 

96 



the most independent, the most intelli- 
gent, the richest and best satisfied peo- 
ple on earth as a class. Every man, 
woman and child in this great land, if 
they don't know them now, should be 
taught the stories of the conflicts in 
which this splendid banner has led us 
to victory that we might attain the po- 
sition we now hold as a nation — the 
brightest star of this old world where 
INDEPENDENCE is all that the word 
implies, where the tanner's boy may be- 
come president, the washerwoman's 
daughter a senator and the farmer's son 
a governor. A country that offers 
wealth, honor and fame to every child 
born under its flag according to their 
ambition to obtain one or all. I ask 
again.— COULD WE ASK FOR ANY- 
THING MORE? 

Surely there must be something men- 
tally wrong with anyone who disdains 
the privileges here offered, who points 

97 



with ridicule at the emblem of liberty, 
for any sane man who knows history 
must know that we have the most splen- 
did country on earth, if he doesn't 
know history, he, for his own peace of 
mind, if for no better reason, should 
take a trip to N. Y. City and see, daily, 
the swarms of emigrants from all parts 
of the earth— 5,000 and more daily — 
each, as he steps foot on this soil offer- 
ing in silence, sometimes audibly, a 
prayer of thanks that he at last has 
reached a country where one's fate or 
estate depend on his ambition only. 



98 



PUBLIC OFFICES AND LAW- 
MAKERS. 

A great mistake is made, I believe, 
in delegating the work of framing our 
City, State and National laws to a class 
of professional men (lawyers dominate 
this class by a very large majority), 
for, as stated elsewhere in this book, 
men who are educated for the bar or 
pulpit, have not the opportunity of 
judging the wants of humanity as well 
as those who are following other pur- 
suits as, for instance, mechanics, agri- 
culture, or educational, for, in most 
cases, men in either of these classes are 
in closer touch with the masses than is 
the legal fraternity or the preacher. A 
lawyer, as a rule, sees his brother man 
in life from two extremes, either acting 
the part of the lamb or the lion, and like 
the nurse or physician who becomes cal- 

99 



loused to the sufferings of their pa- 
tients, so he, seeing so many lambs 
slaughtered, whether right or wrong, 
owing to his ability or inability as a 
lawyer, is quite apt to get out of touch 
with the real unfortunate conditions of 
the great mass of people in regard to 
good government. And for that reason 
be too indifferent to care to figure out 
remedies that may improve those con- 
ditions, for his own financial welfare 
depends largely on the muddled condi- 
tion of our statutes. (We have few A. 
Lincolns practicing nowadays, more's 
the pity.) 

Give the average farmer, business 
man or artisan, the problem of making 
such laws as will from time to time im- 
prove conditions in City, State or Na- 
tion — and I am sure the good results 
would be so conspicuous that the plan 
would be perpetuated. There are now 

100 



so many laws conflicting with one an- 
other, so many loopholes by which a 
case can be continued from time to time 
indefinitely, so many ways to thwart 
justice with money and high priced 
lawyers, and so little opportunity offer- 
ed by which one can get justice in the 
courts without spending much time and 
money, that it is hard to believe a 
change could be made in the way of the 
personnel of legislators that would not 
improve conditions. 

All city, state and national officials 
should be selected and elected after 
careful consideration of their ability to 
fill the office, first their character, next 
their executive ability. No man with- 
out a clean character should be elected 
to fill any official position for, of all men 
who should set a high example for their 
fellow men, I know of none under great- 

101 



er obligation to do so than is the public 
official. 

Nominate and elect only men with 
good character, energy, and executive 
ability, and better government is sure 
to obtain. 



102 



COURTS OF ARBITRATION. 

In every county seat in the United 
States an arbitration board should be 
established where all civil cases of small 
importance, or where the amount of 
damages will not exceed, say $1,000, 
could be settled by an arbitration board. 
This Board should consist of three or 
five men of which the County Judge, 
where they have one, should be the 
chairman, and the other members 
should be reliable citizens who might be 
called on to act once or twice a month if 
necessity required. While on duty in 
this line of work they should, of course, 
be paid for the time required out of 
county funds. 

When two citizens disagreed over a 
matter of small import, if either desir- 
ed, the matter could be taken before 

103 



this board at one of its regular meet- 
ings. Each litigant should be required 
to pay a small fee, say $10.00. Each 
should present his side of the case, hav- 
ing the privilege of securing a layman 
or lawyer to do it for him at his own ex- 
pense, if he preferred. Should either 
party to the controversy desire to ap- 
peal from the decision of the board — 
said decision to be given in less than six 
davs after the evidence was heard — he 
could do so, but would be required to 
give a cash bond sufficient to cover all 
costs, should he lose in the higher court. 
If this plan was adopted, it would save 
each county many thousands of dollars 
annually, and save litigants even more, 
for cases would seldom be appealed, and 
therefore the cost need not exceed $10 
to each party interested. 

Of course, this would eliminate many 
lawyers in every county. However, 

104 



they would be of much more use to the 
community did they take up farming, 
plumbing, teaching or some other pro- 
fession — for lawyers, to a very large ex- 
tent, are but excess baggage if consider- 
ed from an economic point of view. 

In addition to above I would add that 
all penalties in criminal cases should be 
prison sentence; to allow the guilty to 
escape his just deserts by paying a fine 
in cash is no more or less than penaliz- 
ing the poor and allowing the rich to 
escape with merely a slight inconveni- 
ence. A prison term should be the pun- 
ishment for every criminal act whether 
embezzlement, profiteering, robbery, 
horse stealing or what not, and the term 
should be arranged as near alike in 
every state as possible: If one was 
guilty of wrecking a bank, for instance, 
he should be given the same sentence al- 
ways whether the time was to be served 

105 



in the State or Federal prison. There 
must be in no case the inference that 
our laws are framed to protect any one 
class. 



106 



MATRIMONIAL BUREAU. 

In treating social conditions there are 
many problems that should be consid- 
ered, some of them at first thought 
might be considered of too little impor- 
tance for a work of this nature, yet, if 
given a little serious thought, they grow 
large and really form a most important 
feature in our social affairs. 

To my mind, one of the most im- 
portant side issues of our social make- 
up is that of building up just as many 
family units as is possible, if built on a 
solid foundation, one that will guaran- 
tee a successful, healthy, worth-while 
family. The starting point for such re- 
sults, of course, is the happy union of 
two healthy persons of opposite sex, 
and while we are thankful that there 
are as many of such unions per capita 

107 



as we have in the United States when 
compared to that of other nations, yet 
we know there are many thousands of 
marriageable people of both sexes not 
married, who perhaps never will be, ow- 
ing to the lack of an opportunity to 
meet those of the opposite sex of a sim- 
ilar mood. 

Can you imagine anything more pa- 
thetic than the following words so often 
heard, and yet this condition could be 
easily remedied. Is the government 
not guilty of omission in this case 1 — 

"I hate being an old maid. I was 
never meant to be an old maid. It's a 
shame that I should be one. Why are- 
n't conditions changed?" 

For a long time it has seemed to me 
that a National Matrimonial Bureau 
would be most profitable if rightly man- 
aged, for it should offer just the oppor- 
tunity necessary for this class of un- 

108 



married people to get acquainted under 
circumstances that would assure good 
results with little chance of deceit or 
fraud, and at the same time guarantee- 
ing secrecy to all parties concerned. 

The plan could be worked out some- 
thing along the lines here briefly sug- 
gested: — 

One desiring to take advantage of the 
opportunity offered by a National Bu- 
reau, would write the Secretary of the 
Bureau for an application blank, giving 
their sex, age, and nationality, and in 
return they would receive the blank, 
with the desired information as to the 
working plan of the Bureau, and the ob- 
ligations of each and every applicant. 
These blanks would be so arranged 
that when filled out and returned to 
the Secretary, he would know the age, 
size, complexion, social standing, na- 
tionality, and occupation of each appli- 

109 



cant, and their preference as to the 
class they desired to correspond with. 
This would enable him to so classify 
each application that with an adequate 
index system at hand, he could quickly 
return to applicant the numbers of from 
three to five in the class desired. As 
each applicant would be required to 
subscribe to the application sent in, un- 
der oath, with a severe penalty assured 
anyone who endeavored to mislead or 
perpetrate fraud, the possibilities of 
misunderstanding as to the important 
particulars concerning the circum- 
stances of any member would be much 
less than under present conditions. 

While the Secretary would have the 
name and address of each applicant, 
these names and addresses would not be 
given to anyone else, members or oth- 
erwise, until each of the applicants rep- 
resenting the opposite sex, would so re- 

110 



quest by a letter to the Secretary. Then, 
and not until then, would anyone out- 
side of the Bureau know who or where 
any other member was, and then only 
the one having the number designating 
the one desired to correspond with out- 
side of the Bureau. Until this request 
is received from both parties, all cor- 
respondence is addressed to the num- 
ber given in care of the Bureau, where 
it would be forwarded. 

When an application was received by 
the Secretary, he would select three to 
five numbers from the opposite sex, and 
in other states than that of the appli- 
cant, and in the class of that of the ap- 
plicant as explained in said applicant's 
application, and mail these numbers. 
After corresponding with the numbers 
received, should the applicant desire 
the address of any one for the purpose 
of corresponding outside of the Bureau, 

111 



if the one of the opposite sex represent- 
ing the number requested is willing, the 
address of each will then be furnished 
and the names marked off the list. 
Should an applicant not find a congen- 
ial correspondent in the first list of 
numbers furnished, they may have that 
list canceled so far as they are concern- 
ed, and get a new list, paying for same 
enough only to cover the small cost of 
making the change. 

Should any member, after they 
thought they had found a number that 
seemed to meet their wishes, desire to 
correspond with this number outside 
of the Bureau, and still were not sure 
of the standing of the one representing 
said number, on request and the pay- 
ment of cost of investigation — which 
should not be great owing to the fact of 
the Bureau having so large a list of cor- 
respondents in all parts of the country 

112 



— the record of the party could be veri- 
fied without said parties knowing it. 
But inasmuch as each applicant would 
be required to subscribe to the state- 
ments made on the application first 
mailed to the Bureau under oath, with 
the knowledge — as printed on the ap- 
plication blank — that a heavy penalty 
would be the result of any fraud in this 
line — it would be quite likely to guar- 
antee a very large percentage of hon- 
esty in the matter. A health certificate 
in all cases would be required before 
any addresses allowing correspondence 
outside of the Bureau was permitted. 
As each applicant would be required to 
pay a membership fee, say of five dol- 
lars for males, and two dollars for fe- 
males, the Bureau would surely be self- 
sustaining in a very short time. Such 
a bureau would eliminate the evils of 
the catch-as-catch-can matrimonial 

113 



bureaus, with their bad results, we have 
to-day. 

A movement is now on in England to 
bring about similar results thru the me- 
dium of "Mixed Clubs," where young 
people of marriageable age are offered 
the opportunity to meet, with the ob- 
ject in view of causing "more marriag- 
es and earlier marriages." And it is 
suggested, by the promoters of the plan, 
that every municipality establish a 
marriage bureau and provide candi- 
dates for wedlock with introductions. 

As the high cost of living has very 
materially decreased the prospective 
family units in the United States, as 
well as thruout the world, I think 
something along this line should be 
worked out without delay. But in 
working out such a plan, stress should 
be laid on that feature of the work that 
would be most likely to guard against 

114 



fraud on the part of either. If the 
chance to mislead is quite eliminated, 
and a certificate of health required, this 
plan, I think, offers much surer chance 
of happy results than does the commun- 
ity meeting clubs mentioned above. 



115 



CREDULITY. 

Thinking perhaps we might encour- 
age many to think for themselves who 
now believe in things most •unreason- 
able, because of the faith they have in 
their prophets whom they have allowed 
to do the thinking on these lines for 
them, we give a few cases which many 
millions of people accept as true, even 
in this enlightened age. For we believe 
when each can see the ridiculous beliefs 
of others, they are more apt to allow 
that even their old theories may be im- 
proved upon; and hoping that as the 
cobwebs of outworn, unreasonable 
ideas are cleared from the mind, more 
worth-while unlifting thoughts may 
take their place. When the masses 
realize that the laws of nature point 
with unerring fingers the right and 

116 



only paths to follow, leading to health, 
wisdom, happiness and a long life, and 
to a higher plane in the next world if 
there be one, then will humanity move 
on to better things socially and spiritu- 
ally. 

The followers of Mohammed — and 
there are millions of them — believe he 
could perform miracles. That he as- 
cended to Heaven with a veil over his 
face to protect him from the glorious 
vision awaiting, and, according to the 
picture found in a Persian MS., was 
riding his favorite white steed. 

Only a few centuries back — and in 
some localities in this past century — 
priests and bishops sold indulgences for 
every known sin, and claimed the abili- 
ty to perform miracles. 

The following is given verbatim from 
the introductory leaf of the Mormon 
Bible and there are perhaps a million 

117 



or more who seem to believe every word 
thereof: 

"The Book of Mormon: 

An Account Written by The Hand of 
Mormon upon Plates Taken from the 
Plates of Nephi. 

" Wherefore it is an abridgement of 
the record of the people of Nephi, and 
also of the Lamanites; written to the 
Lamanites who are a remnant of the 
House of Israel; and also to Jew and 
Gentile; written by way of command- 
ments, and also by the spirit of prophe- 
cy and of revelation. Written and seal- 
ed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that 
they might not be destroyed; to come 
forth by the gift and power of God un- 
to the interpretation thereof; sealed by 
the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the 
Lord, to come forth in due time by the 
way of Gentile; the interpretation 
thereof by the gift of God. 

118 



"An abridgment taken from the Book 
of Ether also ; which is a record of the 
people of Jafed; who were scattered at 
the time the Lord confounded the lan- 
guage of the people when they were 
building a tower to get to Heaven; 
which is to shew unto the remnant of 
the House of Israel what great things 
the Lord hath done for their fathers; 
and that they may know the covenants 
of the Lord, that they are not cast off 
forever; and also to the convincing of 
the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting 
Himself unto all nations. And now if 
there are faults, they are the mistakes 
of men; wherefore condemn not the 
things of God, that ye may be found 
spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ. 

"Translated by Joseph Smith, Jr. 

"The Testimony of Three Witnesses: 

"Be it known unto all nations, kin- 
dreds, tongues and people unto whom 

119 



this work shall come, that we, through 
the grace of God the Father, and our 
Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates 
which contain this record, which is a 
record of the people of Nephi, and also 
of the Lamanites, their brethren, and 
also of the people of Jared, who came 
from the tower of which hath been 
spoken; and we also know that they 
have been translated by the gift and 
power of God, for his voice hath declar- 
ed it unto us; wherefore we know of a 
surety that the work is true. And we 
also testify that we have seen the en- 
gravings which are upon the plates; and 
they have been shown unto us by the 

power of God, and not of man. And 
we declare with words of soberness, 
that an angel of God came down from 
Heaven, and he brought and laid be- 
fore our eyes, that we beheld and saw 
the plates, and the engravings thereon; 
and we know that it is by the grace of 

120 



God the Father, and our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that we beheld and bear record 
that these things are true ; and it is mar- 
velous in our eyes, nevertheless the 
voice of the Lord commanded us that 
we should bear record of it; wherefore, 
to be obedient unto the commandments 
of God, we bear testimony of these 
things. And we know that if we are 
faithful in Christ, we shall rid our gar- 
ments of the blood of all men, and be 
found spotless before the judgment 
seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him 
eternally in the Heavens. And the hon- 
our be to the Father, and to the Son, and 
to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. 
Amen. 

" Oliver Cowdery, 
" David Whitmer, 
" Martin Harris. 

"And Also the Testimony of Eight 
Witnesses. 

121 



"Be it known unto all nations, kin- 
dreds, tongues, and people unto whom 
this work shall come, that Joseph 
Smith, Jr., the translator of this work, 
has shewn unto us the plates of which 
hath been spoken, which have the ap- 
pearance of gold; and as many of the 
leaves as the said Smith has translated, 
we did handle with our hands; and we 
also saw the engravings thereon, all of 
which has the appearance of ancient 
work, and of curious workmanship. 
And this we bear record with words of 
soberness, that the said Smith hath 
shewn unto us, for we have seen and 
hefted, and know of a surety that the 
said Smith has got the plates of which 
we have spoken. And we give our 
names unto the world, to witness unto 
122 



the world that which we have seen; and 
we lie not, God bearing witness of it. 

"Christian Whitmer, 

"Jacob Whitmer, 

"Peter Whitmer, Jr., 

' ' John Whitmer, 

"Hiram Page, 
"Joseph Smith, Sr., 
"Hyrum Smith, 
"Samuel H. Smith." 

Many members of churches even to- 
day believe their leaders could and do 
perform miracles. Did space permit, 
many of such could be enumerated, not 
including the Spiritualists, the Dowey- 
ites, or the Dukhobors. 

In a New York paper published in 
September, 1920, we read: "A Roman 
Catholic priest who had been on a visit 
to Ireland, and who returned to New 
York from Queenstown, said he saw the 
bleeding statue of Templemore where 

123 



hundreds of miraculous cures are being 
effected. According to newspaper re- 
port, he informed some of the customs 
officers that he saw the statue of the 
Virgin Mary bleeding from the mouth, 
and that of the Saviour bleeding from 
the eyes, and further says he saw cures. 
He is also credited with saying, accord- 
ing to the papers, that he saw the lame 
and the blind cured of their afflictions 
by their pilgrimage to the home of 
Thomas Divan, a shopkeeper, where the 
statues are being displayed." 

And thousands will believe this story. 
Will any liberal thinker deny the fact 
that education with its enlightening 
power, would quickly eliminate such 
hoaxes as the case mentioned above? 

Down right STRAIGHT THINK- 
ING — the kind that would result from 
these Community Educational Meet- 
ings — will clean the mind of many un- 

124 



reasonable, harmful, fear - making 
thoughts, and give room for uplifting, 
courageous, independent thoughts, 
thoughts worth while, thoughts worthy 
of every intelligent man. It would 
change the cringing, fawning, half idiot 
to the full stature of man with a power- 
ful, independent, worth-while mental- 
ity. 

MAN — We mean the man developed 
to the full stature of a man as Commun- 
ity Education will make him — fearing 
neither man, beast or the devil. We 
salute you. As you see the light, may 
you grow stronger in every way, and 
your heart be ever full of sympathy, 
love and kindness, with your strength 
always at the service of the weak. 



125 



DEBATES. 

On many problems concerning the 
town, city, state, or nation, whenever 
there seemed to be a divided opinion 
the leaders of the different sides could 
debate the matter at one or more of 
these meetings, and the audience 
would vote on same after they were 
thru. This plan would give the opinion 
of the people on many subjects that oth- 
erwise would necessitate an election. 
This, of course, would save many dol- 
lars now spent on holding elections of 
little importance. It would not, of 
course, be used to settle large affairs. 

These debates would not only be in- 
teresting, but from an educational 
standpoint, they would be most valu- 
able. If the differences between em- 
ployer and employee could be debated 

126 



in the locality where the difference 
arises, public opinion would help much 
in settling each affair without delay, 
for the public would hear both sides and 
be quick to see the unfairness of either 
side. Big business like the railroads or 
coal mines, could not be settled locally. 
But even those strikes could be mitigat- 
ed by getting the pulse of the people se- 
cured thru these Community meetings 
all over the United States. 

Education along the lines offered by 
the Community meetings would prac- 
tically eliminate strikes, boycotts, and 
profiteering. 

Even in international affairs the 
Community plan would prove most val- 
uable. As the Japanese Vice-Minister 
of Foreign Affairs said on being inter- 
viewed soon after landing here — 

"We must go straightway to the 
root of every anti-Japanese and anti- 

127 



American agitation or movement with 
acts of ruthless publicity and EDUCA- 
TION." 

Could this straight-thinking advice 
be carried out in any better way than 
thru the debates and lectures given on 
all questions of importance at these 
Community gatherings all over the 
country? Surely not. 



128 



HIGH PRICES. 

Just now high prices would receive 
some attention from the lecturers and 
teachers. They would be most likely to 
help the public in the way of educating 
them in buying produce and staple ar- 
ticles so as to get the best results for 
their money. It is not unlikely that in 
some cases they would advise commu- 
nity buying, of sugar for instance. 
Again — along similar lines used 65 
years ago by that great editor, Hor- 
ace Greeley, in New York City, when 
someone got a monopoly on butter and 
raised the price from twenty to forty 
cents, in his paper he advised the people 
to eat molasses for two or three weeks, 
when butter at the end of that time 
could be secured at the old price. They 
did it, and butter dropped to twenty 
cents in ten days. 

129 



While the cold storage houses should 
prove a blessing, they are now proving 
the reverse, for when produce and fruit 
are plenty, and people might buy at a 
reasonable price and put away to use 
later, these companies buy up the mar- 
ket supply, and then when there is none 
to offer on the open markets, make the 
price enough higher to cover both the 
cost and a large profit. 

Whenever opportunity offers as these 
community meetings would — to edu- 
cate the people in a collective body on 
various lines, great reforms would 
surely follow, for by letting down the 
bars that seem to separate the people 
into classes, and educating them all to- 
gether, it would work to the best pos- 
sible advantage for the masses who 
would realize that the safest, surest, 
and happiest condition for the people 
of a town, city, or state, is obtained 

130 



only when all pull together to make 
those conditions the best possible for 
every living person therein. 



131 



COMMUNITY LECTURES 
ON HEALTH. 

The saving to the public in both 
money and time now wasted thru sick- 
ness would alone amount to many mil- 
lions annually. A great physician once 
said — 

"I believe fully sixty per cent of the 
ills of man are imaginary and a very 
large percentage of the balance could 
be eliminated by education. " 

Thru these lectures on hygiene peo- 
ple would be taught not only the simple 
remedies always at hand, but the more 
important lesson, of how to prevent 
sicknesses of many kinds. Cleanliness, 
first, last, and all the time; then the 
care of the teeth and mouth: diet: ex- 
ercise: the value of sunshine and pure 
air: the care of the eyes, the feet and 

132 



the hair — in fact, thru these lectures 
on health the longevity of mankind 
should increase considerably, and the 
money now squandered on patent nos- 
trums that do more harm than good in 
most cases, would purchase more profit- 
able commodities. Then, too, would 
doctor's bills and druggist's bills be cur- 
tailed not a little. But, perhaps, the 
most valuable results would be the 
saving of infant life and the next great- 
est would be the converting of thous- 
ands upon thousands of those who are 
mind-sick, or sick only because they 
think they are, into healthy, vigorous, 
useful men and women. By letting sun- 
shine into the souls of many who are 

broken in spirit and in body thru mental 

* 

morbidity, and the change of thousands 
from that condition of mind that breeds 
the pessimist — a liability for any com- 
munity — to the more healthy, health- 
ful, happy, worth-while condition of 

133 



the optimist — a great asset to any 
family, neighborhood or city — great 
good would result. The difference be- 
tween the influence of the pessimist 
and that of the optimist is quite simi- 
lar to that of lowering, threatening 
clouds that foretell a long dismal rain 
storm and the bright, many colored 
rainbow that precedes the clearing up 
and the bright sunshine soon to fol- 
low. You are unfortunate indeed if you 
have a pessimist in your household. 
Not unlike the death knell of a funeral- 
bell that has a musical sound to but one 
— the Undertaker — so is his doleful 
song music to himself, alone. 

The great specialist, Dr. E. E. Rit- 
tenhouse has said, quite recently that 
there are at least 1,500,000 Americans 
ill with preventable diseases. That 
many thousand die before they are 45 
owing to lack of proper exercise. 

134 



Think it over — What would his talks 
at these Community Educational meet- 
ings mean to thousands and thousands 
of people who do not know how to care 
for their health? 



135 



THINKERS DO NOT ACCEPT 
ORTHODOX RELIGIONS. 

The following thoughts will show 
some of the reasons. Never in all his- 
tory was man as free to think as he 
pleases, write as he pleases, and talk 
as he pleases. Never before was he 
able to grasp the thought of mankind 
as expressed in all ages since the dawn 
of intelligence. 

Paleographers can now decipher 
histories of nations, tribes, and peo- 
ples as recorded by their historians 
on papyrus, bricks, stone tablets and 
obelisks, whether in characters, pic- 
tures, or figures, and make their deduc- 
tions accordingly. So that in addition 
to having the experiences of a people 
as recorded in histories written in the 
past two centuries we can now go back 

136 



three, four and five thousand years. 
This opportunity has given us a better 
insight into man's early thoughts and 
habits and helped much in the way of 
forming our ideas as to the evolution 
and growth of the reasoning power of 
the mind of the animal kingdom, and 
particularly of man. 

There being no Ecclesiastical Dicta- 
tors, no Theological Tyrants, in these 
times to make a charred corpse of a 
man's body, or a sainted martyr of his 
spirit for being a heretic — depending 
on the class of religious belief he hap- 
pened to be connected with — there is 
an abundance of evidence in the way of 
editorials, magazine articles and books 
to prove that the mind of man is grow- 
ing stronger, broader, and healthier. 
For the mind, so soon as liberated and 
encouraged to think straight, spreads 
out, expands, and rapidly develops 

137 



those reasoning faculties so long held in 
bondage. 

One of the first discoveries made in 
this new era of the individual free 
thinking mind if allowed free sway, 
was that it was inclined to straight 
thinking, and as the result of this 
straight thinking, much attention is 
now devoted to social problems; for the 
normal, unbiased thinker of today real- 
izes that the road to a better man, a 
better life, and contentment here and 
now can be obtained only by improv- 
ing social conditions. 

Therefore, we may expect better con- 
ditions all along the line, better homes, 
better towns, and better men every- 
where as the direct results of this some- 
what new free unbiased mode of think- 
ing. Perhaps the best proof that the 
habit of straight thinking will regener- 
ate mankind is the known fact that the 

138 



power that really knocked out one of 
the old lines of thought as represented 
by Prussian Militarism, was the little 
bunch of free-lances from the western 
hemisphere, whose individuality, as 
well as the collectively irresistible pow- 
er, and the habit of thinking straight, 
each for himself and man power mould- 
ed into a great military machine with 
but one thought in mind — go forward 
or retreat, as ordered, was utterly and 
unmercifully routed by that contend- 
ing foe who fought with his mind as 
well as his gun, and when the little de- 
tails of the great war are finally tabu- 
lated, it will be seen at a glance, that 
brain and not brawn won the great war. 

Thinkers hold that the same law 
that encourages the blades of grass to 
grow to their full stature and grow 
straight; the heart of a healthy person 
to beat strong and regular; also gov- 

139 



erns the mind, which, under proper en- 
vironments, will think straight. The 
blade of grass, the heart, and the mind, 
all three, will not fulfill their natural 
functions if not allowed to mature un- 
der favorable circumstances — the grass 
must have the proper soil, a certain 
amount of rain and sunshine — the 
heart a healthy body made so by a suffi- 
cient quantity of pure blood — so, with 
the mind, there must be a happy spirit, 
the results of a clean, healthy body, 
abundance of good material for thought, 
and above all — a free and unrestricted 
habit of thinking — that is, a mind al- 
lowed alwavs to make its own deduc- 
tions. The more one uses his mind to 
think out for himself each and every 
problem presented, the more apt is he 
to find his conclusions square with the 
opinions of thinkers of note. 
140 



Straight thinkers, as a class, are well 
represented by that line of investiga- 
tors who come under the head of Scien- 
tists. As a rule, they represent peo- 
ple with large, well developed mentali- 
ties, for the trend of their minds has 
been such as to best promote a normal 
condition of every part^ of the brain. 
Being liberal minded, w r ith the princi- 
pal object in view of getting at the 
facts in each and every case, they have 
developed the habit of carefully analyz- 
ing each and all problems and consi- 
der same with as nearly an unbiased 
mind as possible. Therefore, their 
opinions represent, perhaps, the re- 
sults of a much straighter mode of 
thinking than would that of a class 
whose trend of thought followed but 
one channel. True it is that in many 
cases the man of one idea seems to gain 
a respectable standing socially and 
financially much quicker than his broth- 

141 



er who may endeavor to cover a wider 
field in thought or business, but a 
proposition that concerns the happi- 
ness of this life 'and the possibilities 
of a life hereafter, can be treated fair- 
ly, and most consistently, by minds 
bent on accepting all evidence, and con- 
sidering all arguments offered on the 
subject, and then making their deduc- 
tions accordingly, instead of accept- 
ing a dogmatic theory, and use only 
such evidence as will substantiate that 
supposition. 

This is the difference between broad 
minded scientists and the theologians, 
the former trained to believe only 
tangible facts — facts that are deter- 
mined by an unspeculative mode of 
reasoning, eliminating conjectures, sup- 
positions, and unsupported theories; 
while the latter accept the speculative 
mode of reasoning, figuring out a theory 

142 



or belief on the idea that because man 
finds the world as it is, there must be 
a cause — which is true, we admit — 
then they build upon this foundation 
many beautiful ideas, concerning the 
personality, desire, and ultimate aim 
of this Great Cause, and argue the 
matter, each sect from their especially 
prepared viewpoint, much of which we 
hold is mere conjecture and some 
quite ludicrous. The different schemes 
figured out by each leader or prophet 
for their followers, that they may at- 
tain that happy condition in the vision- 
ary home to be prepared for them, in 
the visionary life hereafter, is interest- 
ing reading, and would be given here 
by way of showing their many incon- 
sistencies did it not take too much 
space to even give a small share of the 
different beliefs, conjectures, and theo- 
ries worked out by men who have 
been stranded on some one idea, and 

143 



concentrate a strong mind on the one 
thought and built up a future life and 
a future home accordingly. 

Psychology and Sociology can no 
more be taught intelligently by theo- 
logians than can Astronomy be taught 
by one versed only in mechanics. The 
average priest, preacher, or monk, who 
endeavors to lead men on these sub- 
jects, sees but one side of life, and knows 
but little concerning man's thoughts 
and habits. The large part of his life 
he comes in contact with only the bet- 
ter side of man. Always meeting him 
at his best, he naturally must be a poor 
judge of the worldly life he leads, and 
then he wonders why the average ser- 
mon seems to fall on deaf ears, as is 
admitted by them, as mentioned in an- 
other part of this book. While men 
will talk and speak their minds freely 
on all subjects when together, they 

144 



will not commit themselves when talk- 
ing to the clergy, and naturally, be- 
cause his parishoners do not take is- 
sue with him the preacher quite like- 
ly thinks they agree with him in 
what he says. I have heard preachers 
say from the pulpit "The man who does 
not accept the Christian religion is eith- 
er a bigot, a fool, or a sinner," and be- 
cause not one of his audience remon- 
strated, he probably believed they all 
thought likewise; whereas, could he 
have known the thoughts of those men, 
many of them there to please their 
mothers, wives, or sweethearts, he 
would have learned that they thought 
he, perhaps, was the only bigot in the 
room. 

Had the average priest, preacher, 
or monk devoted but a small part of 
his study hours to analyzing the pos- 
sibilities of the mind of a liberal think- 

145 



er, lie would have known that a 
free, unbiased, thoughtful, healthy mind 
has no room for superstitions com- 
piled by scribes, prophets, or monks of 
fifteen hundred, two, three or four 
thousand years ago; for as a philoso- 
pher has so wisely said "No man could 
write a religion for the people of five 
hundred years hence for the environ- 
ments are a great factor, and to as- 
sume what they will be is too much 
of a speculation." 

For these reasons and many others, 
scientists, as a class, do not accept the 
modern religion as represented by any 
one of the two hundred or more de- 
nominational churches. 

In a poll recently taken of a class 
in Sociology in one of the leading uni- 
versities in the United States, out of 
about a dozen female students inter- 
viewed as to the qualities they desired 

146 



in the opposite sex as their possible 
mate. Among the qualities given in 
the enumeration was that of religion 
— of the girls, about 6.5, or but lit- 
tle over half of those interviewed, or 
who answered the questionnaire, gave 
religion as the principal quality. With 
a similar number of young men of the 
class, either it was not thought neces- 
sary to ask this question, or it was ig- 
nored by them entirely, for in the list 
of answers given, religion is not men- 
tioned. All of w T hich should prove 
along with other evidence given in 
this work, that religion as represent- 
ed by the different churches is not con- 
sidered seriously today by thinkers, 
young or old. 

Let's take Justine Hartley Moore 
at his word, and see what the deduc- 
tions of an unbiased mind would be 

147 



after analyzing his remark on this line. 
He was quoted as follows — 

Justin Hartley Moore in "The 
World Beyond" — "Science can readily 
strip away from any earlier system of 
religio-mythological accounts of crea- 
tion which represent the state of nat- 
ural knowledge, when the system was 
growing and can disprove or reject ac- 
counts of natural phenomena which 
are now known clearly to be errors, 
but when this has all been done, the 
real kernel still remains in any religious 
system worthy of the name. 

"Man is still left venerating the great 
cause of creation, and worshipping at 
the shrine of an infinite and all-pow- 
erful creator. Nor is it any bar to his 
worship that he possesses no rigorous 
proof nor exact knowledge in terms of 
material things. The mysticism only 
stimulates devotion, and urges him on- 

148 



ward toward higher realization of di- 
vinity and idealization of all that is 
highest in the deity that he personi- 
fies and worships." 

Suppose we eliminate all history as 
recorded in the Bible that Science 
would term unprovable, unreasonable, 
and entirely contrary to all laws of na- 
ture we have yet encountered, and 
we would have left, as he states "man 
venerating the great cause of crea- 
tion, worshipping at the shrine of an 
infinite and all powerful creator. The 
mysticism only stimulating devotion 
and urging him onwards toward high- 
er realization of all that is highest in 
the deity that he personifies and wor- 
ships." 

We differ with him in his conclusions 
in this respect. We hold that belief 
based on mysticism cannot interest the 
intelligent man who reasons from an 

149 



unbiased viewpoint. That much stress, 
time, and money is therefore wasted 
in the endeavor to lead men to do right 
by appealing to their credulity. We 
hold that man can best please his "All 
Powerful Creator" by conforming 
strictly to His laws — which we call 
the laws of nature. Thru education 
and experience we are taught that if 
we put our hand in the fire, we are 
burned; that if we indulge to excess 
in eating, drinking, exercising, sleep- 
ing, or smoking, we are sure to pay the 
penalty — and on the other hand, if we 
practice right living and right think- 
ing, we are just as sure to cultivate 
good thoughts and a good disposition 
and in every way improve our physi- 
cal and mental makeup. 

Now then, if we do this, (and there 
is no lesson better learned and profit- 
ted by more than the lesson taught by 

150 



experience and education) will we not 
be assured of a future existence, if 
there is one, regardless of whether we 
" venerated and worshipped the Great 
Cause" or not? In progressing, pro- 
viding there is a progression on to an- 
other life, would not the stage in which 
we entered the next life be measured 
by our spiritual development in this 
life? If we follow closely the unerring 
laws as we discover them, that should 
govern our habits of living both physi- 
cally and mentally, we surely develop 
into better human beings on earth, 
and if there is another life, is it not 
most reasonable to believe we shall 
progress there on a higher level than 
if we were to allow mysticism to domi- 
nate our lives? When I show my 
boys that every time they transgress 
a law of nature, they are promptly 
punished for so doing, and then prove 
it in many ways as occasion offers, 

151 



they believe it, and when I tell them it 
is most reasonable to believe that the 
more perfect physically, mentally and 
morally here the higher the plane 
there — if there is another life — it ap- 
peals to their natural reasoning powers 
and they are much more apt to profit by 
the knowledge obtained, than they 
would if I told them they must do so 
and so because their ancestors two or 
three thousand years back had laid 
down certain rules to follow if a future 
life were desired, and those rules were 
based on mysticism. I, as a father, 
would much prefer that my boys would 
endeavor to seek out and follow every 
law of nature that would improve them 
physically and mentally, than to have 
them rely on my figuring it out for 
them. I would want them to discard 
the mysticism for the reality every time. 
And the Judge of all creation surely 
would not be less wise. 

152 



In conclusion I will add that Zoroast- 
er, a philosopher who seems to have 
preceded the time of Moses, taught 
his followers that "the condition in 
the eternal life depended entirely on 
the life lived in this world. By im- 
proving their physical, mental and 
moral condition here they would reach 
a higher standard on entering the 
next life." This theory, as old as his- 
tory, is the most reasonable suggestion 
offered concerning the manner of ob- 
taining and the condition on entering 
the life hereafter, and it seems likely, 
altho a mere guess, to be as near solving 
the problem as mortal man will ever at- 
tain. 

The Theologian says — " Concentrate 
3^our efforts on attaining the life here- 
after thru the spiritual salvation of- 
fered by the church." 

153 



The Philosopher says — " Study the 
laws of nature that govern the mental 
as well as the physical forces, with the 
aim in view of improving this life as 
much as environments will permit and 
should there be another life you will 
advance to that level your life work 
here warrants regardless of church or 
creed." 



154 



COMMUNITY EDUCATION. 

It would be quite impossible to re- 
cord the many ways in which commun- 
ity education would spell uplift for 
humanity in the space given here. 
However, we will mention a few just 
to give the reader an idea of what a 
plan of this nature would do for a city, 
state, or country where it was adopted. 

First — There is hardly a known phys- 
ical ill man is heir to that education 
would not, in a short time, eradicate. 

Second — The money saved, by teach- 
ing the multitude how easily they 
could save a very large part of their 
earnings, and yet not deny themselves 
any real worth while pleasure, would 
amount yearly to more than it cost to 
carry on the late great war. 

155 



Third — By bringing the people to- 
gether as often as these community 
programs would, they would prove a 
great incentive for encouraging that 
feeling of brotherly interest, brotherly 
sympathy, and brotherly love, so neces- 
sary to bring about better social con- 
ditions, by eliminating class hatred, 
selfishness and greed. Along this line, 
it would surely be the greatest leveller 
socially that could be figured out. It 
would eliminate classes and encourage 
a united effort, for each and every citi- 
zen would be taught the necessity of 
communistic interests, that only by 
pulling together as one large family 
could conditions be improved for all. 
A man may be large and look strong 
and healthy and happy, but if there is 
but one small boil on his body, a can- 
cer eating a hole in his cheek, or a smit- 
ten conscience that eliminates peace- 
ful sleep, he is neither well nor con- 

156 



tented, and cannot be until he is re- 
lieved of the poison in his blood or 
brain. Neither can communities, large 
or small, realize good social conditions 
until they have eliminated the condi- 
tions that encourage a disposition to 
organize into classes, with the thought 
in view that that is the only plan by 
which men of various lines of work 
or vocation can get their share of the 
' ' plunder . ' ' Every effort must be made 
and without delay, to eliminate those 
economic and social conditions that en- 
courage class legislation, class ; units, 
etc., for a division into classes means not 
one boil on the social body but many. 
Each and all, if not eradicated, will as 
surely sound the death knell to a 
healthy condition along the lines of 
good government and better social con- 
ditions, as does the little cancer mean 
death to the man on which it is work- 

157 



ing if the poison in his blood is not 
quickly purified. 

Fourth — Communistic education 
would prove to all how necessary was 
each spoke to make a perfect wheel; 
how much better the wheel if every 
spoke is perfect, and the damage to it 
if even one is defective. By showing 
to the man above how necessary to 
him is the man working below, surely 
he would have much more considera- 
tion, a more brotherly feeling, respect- 
ing the law of self-preservation if 
nothing else; then would he extend a 
hand to his fellow man and lift him 
to the level above realizing that the 
two could work out their salvation to- 
gether, where either must fall if left 
alone. 

Fifth — Communistic education would 
curtail the leeches who spend most of 
their time figuring out unnatural, un- 

158 



healthy, expensive fads for the silly 
rich who can afford them, and many 
foolish people who cannot afford them 
— for people will not be crazed over 
dress or be immodest in dress either 
when educated. Today, if you'll no- 
tice, it's only the shallow-brained rich 
and the very vain poor that dress either 
gaudily or immodestly. 

Sixth — The grade schools will also 
improve as the result of this line of 
education. The children will be taught 
how much of their welfare depends on 
their fellow students, how slow things 
would go — how lonesome they would 
be without them — and each and every 
student from the first day to the last, 
would be encouraged in many ways to 
have a care each for the other; to have 
sympathy and charity for the less for- 
tunate mentally, physically, or financial- 
ly, and to realize that if they learn to 

159 



love one another, the world will be 
brighter and life more worth living 
when they grow up. Then will give 
way the almost criminal habit prac- 
ticed today of allowing the graduates 
to vie with one another in the cos- 
tumes they shall wear, much to the dis- 
couragement and remorse of those in 
the class who cannot afford new and 
expensive costumes. We know of no 
one thing a teacher should be respect- 
ed and approved for more than that 
of encouraging and inculcating the 
above thoughts in their students. Let 
the graduating costumes be arranged 
as simple and inexpensive as is possi- 
ble. When people are educated, as a 
few years of Communistic Education 
would educate them, the little tots in 
the first four or five grades will all be 
clothed alike — in durable, convenient, 
but inexpensive clothes, and the stu- 
dents of higher grades will not get far 

160 



away from this plan either, for when 
the benefit of discouraging vanity 
and selfishness in the young is appre- 
ciated, we shall have overcome one 
great social evil. 

The many, many benefits of com- 
munistic education could be sufficient- 
ly enumerated to fill a fair sized library, 
but we believe the few cases cited will 
be sufficient to convince the reader 
that the arguments in favor of this 
movement are without number, and 
so powerful that the plan will certain- 
ly be adopted here, there, and every- 
where in the very near future. For it 
would prove a blessing of great mag- 
nitude, physically, morally, mentally, 
socially and economically, in every 
community, state, or country where 
adopted. 

Education is surely the bread of 
life for mankind. To go thru life 

161 



without education is like driving an 
auto on a dark night without lights— 
the brighter the lights, the more of the 
beautiful landscape can one see, and 
the less jars and bumps will he ex- 
perience. By enlarging the under- 
standing, we increase efficiency and 
the power for good. 

Education is the only key that will 
open the door to opportunity, to bet- 
ter physical, social, and financial con- 
ditions. Education is not unlike the 
telescope, for it broadens the vision 
and eliminates space; it puts music 
into the warble of the birds, adds fra- 
grance to the flow r er, and makes won- 
derful and beautiful paintings as large 
as the vision can encompass. It mel- 
lows the heart and creates love and 
sympathy and charity for all. It en- 
larges one's environments, expands the 
mind until it takes in the earth, the 

162 



skies, and the seas, and all that is in 
them. It lengthens the life and dou- 
bles the pleasures of mankind — what 
more could one desire? 



163 



SPIRITUALISM. 
A True Story. 

In 1885 I knew a young man about 
20 years of age who was considerably 
puzzled concerning the various creeds 
of the many denominational churches. 
Being somewhat conscientious in the 
matter he found he could not subscribe 
to either of those investigated with- 
out compromising his conscience for he 
firmly believed that miracles are not 
performed by man to-day and never 
were. This idea, of course, eliminat- 
ed his chances of co-operating with 
those church organizations he would 
prefer to work with in the uplift work 
they, as a church, were supposed to do. 
At this time he was much at sea and 
not a little troubled in mind for he did 
wish to live the next life should there 
be one. About this time a prominent 

164 



Lecturer, Platform Debater and 
Preacher visited his town and deliver- 
ed five lectures on spiritualism, all of 
which the young man attended and 
was considerably impressed with what 
he heard, for Moses Hull was known 
all over the TJ. S. as a profound think- 
er and platform debater second to 
none. Mr. Hull would appear on the 
stage with a Bible under his arm and 
always make the following statement: 
"I preached from a Methodist pulpit 
for twenty years using this Bible most 
of the time as my guide, when one day 
the scales seemed to drop from my 
eyes and I was then given the privi- 
lege of interpreting the Good Book in 
the right light.' ' Then he would en- 
deavor to prove the theory of spirit- 
ualism by it, quoting from many chap- 
ters and nearly every book therein. 
He would close by saying, "It has 
always been a friend to me but now 

165 



that I can interpret it with a clear vision 
it gives me greater pleasure than 
ever." The above is true, the balance, 
except the sequel to above story given 
later, is the invention of the writer 
given, merely, to complete the argu- 
ment. This young man might have 
gone his way rejoicing after listening 
to these lectures for at last he seemed 
to have found a leader who, after 
pondering over the contradictory state- 
ments found here and there thruout 
the Bible, for more than twenty years, 
had at last been able to see things 
clearly and to give a (seemingly) rea- 
sonable interpretation thereof. But 
alas and alack, an analytical turn of 
mind was inclined to ponder still more 
over the subject, and so he soliloquized 
thus, "If I went to either or all of 
the clergy of the denominational 
churches who preached from a similar 
Bible and told them that I had at last 

166 



found a safe anchorage where the trou- 
bled seas of doubt washed not the 
shores, and my little boat rode at lei- 
sure in the calm; and then explain to 
them my new found theory that guar- 
anteed a contented mind on this score 
here and hereafter, they would, one and 
all, throw up their hands in horror and 
quickly inform me that I was on the 
straight road to hell and that my aged 
interpreter was a first lieutenant of his 
Satanic Majesty." This experience 
and these thoughts w x ould likely encour- 
age the following deductions : If the All 
Wise Creator had decided it necessary 
to have His Disciples write a book that 
should be our only passport to the life 
hereafter, surely, being ALL WISE He 
would have known there would be mil- 
lions and millions who would possess 
minds that could not accept a theory 
concerning the manner of obtaining 
salvation not based on facts that would 

167 



square with the laws of nature: That 
many of these clear thinkers would in- 
clude the best species of mankind, — for 
the strength of the mind is the gauge 
of the man always. Therefore the 
young man's final deductions might 
have been — If the All Wise Creator had 
thought it necessary for the salvation of 
mankind that any other commandments 
should be given in addition to the un- 
erring laws of nature that seem ade- 
quate to cover all rules of action war- 
ranting a perfect life here and now as 
well as the life hereafter, should there 
be one, He surely would have written 
those commandments in the sky in no 
uncertain language, where they would 
ever shine as plain as the stars that ALL 
men of ALL climes could read their ti- 
tle clear each in his own language with 
no chance of disagreeing as to the mean- 
ing of a single word, and so clear to all 

168 



that the Clergy, Priest or Pope would 
be unnecessary as interpreters. 

I will add, in closing, the sequel to 
the true part of this article as given 
above. This is also true. 

Sometime after the lectures above 
mentioned — I think it was in 1896 — 
this young man had the opportunity of 
attending a camp meeting held near the 
Twin Cities by the Northwestern Spir- 
itualistic Association. His ambition to 
investigate the phenomena of this 
theory at first hand was now to be 
realized and he took the first opportu- 
nity offered to visit the camp-grounds 
near Hamline, and, with an unbiased 
mind, hoping to obtain the proof he so 
long desired, that there was surely a 
life hereafter, with the added pleasure 
of being convinced that the departed 
could be consulted thru the efforts of 
the prominent mediums there, he took 

169 



in each and all of the so called demon- 
strations or tests, and, in return, was 
taken in himself by each and all, for 
after investigating the '" Healer," the 
trumpet talk, the slate writing, the 
spirit photographing, the materializa- 
tions, single, double and also the dema- 
terializing seances he came away 
thoroughly satisfied that he had found 
sufficient downright fraud to have 
even satisfied on that score a Sir Oliver 
Lodge who would surely have turned 
away with disgust. Later he secured 
the testimony of one of the prominent 
performers at that meeting to the effect 
that, not only were his efforts pure, 
unadulterated fraud, but that he had 
never in his experience seen anything 
in the line of the various "manifesta- 
tions" that were not tricks pure and 
simple. And this man was the leading 
drawing-card of that camp-meeting for 
he was the great " materializing me- 

170 



dium" second to none in the whole 
world, for while other mediums were 
satisfied with materializing one spirit 
at a time, he had the power to material- 
ize two at one and the same time, and 
in addition his spirits would demater- 
ialize on the stage not ten feet from the 
faithful, apparently. 

Community Education would quickly 
put such fakes, and many others, out of 
business for good and all time; when 
the mind is cleared of the many cob- 
webs in the shape of unreasonable be- 
liefs then will there be room for straight 
thinking and not until that time should 
we expect too much in the line of a 
great forward uplift movement. 



171 



BOY SCOUTS. 

I know of no organization quite as 
helpful to the boy or girl as The Boy or 
Girl Scout movement. Anything that 
will get the growing child out in the 
country where they can get in touch 
with nature surely will aid them both 
physically and mentally. Under the 
guidance of the Scout Master they learn 
many things instructive and useful — in 
fact, if a girl or boy is fortunate enough 
to be a member of a Troop, their charac- 
ter and individuality is sure to get a big 
boost in the right direction, as well as 
their health. 

If you have one or more children and 
there is a Scout Troop in your town, lose 
no time in getting them to join it — for 
the experience, the interesting infor- 
mation concerning birds and animals 
and all nature, — will add much to their 
worth-while knowledge. The encour- 

172 



agement to help others, to respect their 
elders, and above all — to set their ideals 
high and then strive to attain them — 
in many ways will be of great help to 
them thru life. 

Loosen up your self-centered sel- 
fishness and help a little to making 
men and women worth while out of 
your children. Each one of them is 
just craving to grow big, and grand, 
and good. If they don't attain those 
lofty aims the blame, in most part, 
should be charged directly to their in- 
dolent, selfish, no-good fathers and 
mothers — in most cases fathers, for we 
have found in a long life of observation 
that in a very large majority of cases 
where the family does not measure up 
to an average standard the FATHER 
is the skulking, selfish, self-centered 
conceited idiot who doesn't know that 
the high value of his existence is meas- 
ured by the standard of his children. 

173 



FINIS. 

Let no reader think for a moment 
the foregoing spell a free rein for his 
conscience, quite the contrary, for 
where his conscience smote him once 
before, under this program, he will 
surely feel the lash twice and thrice, for 
when one really gets on the road lead- 
ing to a better man physically, mentally 
and morally he will quickly learn that 
his conscience grows more sensitive 
and more insistent that he press on to 
better things. The unschooled boy is 
most apt to be cruel to birds and dogs; 
a little education and his brute nature 
gives away to a more kindly disposi- 
tion; the higher the education the more 
humane. 

As man learns the great pleasure in 
store for all who strenuously endeavor 
to reach the perfect standard of a man, 
he will find himself governed more and 

174 



more by an unrelenting conscience that 
seems ever to push and urge him on to 
a better condition in mind and body as 
attained only by carefully following the 
laws of nature: 

Those laws will teach Jiim for in- 
stance, that over-indulgence in eating, 
drinking or idleness must be atoned for, 
whereas proper eating and work would 
bring peaceful sleep and good health 
and many other valuable lessons. 
When one reaches that stage where he 
may look into the mirror and see the 
image of the full stature of a man phys- 
ically and mentally, with every faculty 
healthy and vigorous, with his moral 
nature filled to overflow with love, sym- 
pathy and kindness — for thru these 
qualities he garners much real pleasure 
— surely he will find happiness and con- 
tentment on earth. And having lived 
up to the most exacting laws of nature 
governing the moulding of that splen- 
did personality, he may look to the fu- 

175 



ture life, should there be one, with con- 
fidence that it means a high standard 
for him as a starting point. 

There is not anything that should be 
valued more or more sought after than 
a perfect condition of body and mind, — 
the two are inseparable, — for the re- 
ward of such a condition is the king- 
dom of earth, and of heaven, with all 
the real worth while good therein. 

If you seek, — and all well balanced 
minds do — health, contentment and 
happiness you will attain them only 
thru education. Not necessarily a 
college education but one obtained thru 
diligently seeking out those laws of 
nature that govern our development 
into better beings, and b}^ accumulat- 
ing as many worth-while ideas as 
environments may permit. These op- 
portunities should be greatly multiplied 
had you the privilege of attending the 
Community Educational Schools out- 
lined herein. — G. Schoft — Author. 

176 



L|BRARY OF CONGRESS* 




CAESAR'S TOWER. 

Composed of the Skulls of the Rich 
and Reaching to the Skies 

was the title of a book written by a philosopher 40 yea 
ago. His prophecy is now being fulfilled to the letter 
Russia. 3 % 3 

To "all, except the most optomistic, the future looks dark ; 
indeed, still the clouds have a silver lining if you look from 
the right angle, for the world may yet be saved from man*| 
selfishness if we adopt the plan for our salvation ON EARTH 
as outlined herein. 



